Solidifying Power Electronics [Historical]

More than one century ago, in 1902, American engineer Peter Cooper Hewitt (1861\u20131921) derived the mercury arc-rectifier, enclosed in a glass bulb, from his mercury-vapor lamp of the previous year. He devised its use for feeding dc motors from alternating currents. As the first rectifier for power uses (two years before Fleming\u2019s diode and four before De Forest\u2019s audion [1]), the mercury arc-rectifier marked the birth of power electronics