1880

Piezoelectricity

• The brothers Jacques and Pierre Curie
• showed that certain crystals produce an electric charge
• when under mechanical stress, particularly
• tourmaline, quartz, topaz, sugar, and Rochelle salt.
• Gabriel Lippmann deduced the converse effect
• from thermodynamic principles, and the Curie brothers
• swiftly confirmed that an electric charge
• causes a mechanical deformation of the same crystals.

Piezoelectric uses

• Sonar transducers
• phonograph needle cartridges
• buzzers, solid-state speakers
• microphones
• quartz watches
• ultrasonic transducers
• for material analysis
• and backup proximity sensors
• automobile airbag sensors
• igniters for stoves and grills

Transducer

• If you made a transducer
• to convert gravity into levity
• would you unleash it on the world?
• Time to get serious
• about not making money
• doing what we love.