1896: Diode bridge - The book of science

Karol Pollak electromagnetism

Diode bridge

Karol Pollak
invented the diode bridge
also known as the Graetz bridge
or the bridge rectifier.
An arrangement of diodes
that permit current in only one direction
converts alternating current
into direct current.

Graetz bridge

Leo Graetz popularized Pollak’s bridge
and was German instead of Polish
assuming that had anything to do with it.

Surplus bridge

My father once showed me one
and I held it in my hand
not as a component of a circuit
but as a work of sculpture
with a hidden purpose
that was no longer needed.

This was the first circuit that I understood. The simplicity of arranging one-way flows in an elegant pattern appealed to me.

See also in The book of science:

1833,1843—Wheatstone bridge—Samuel Hunter Christie, Charles Wheatstone
1874,1904—Crystal diode—Karl Ferdinand Braun, Henry Harrison Chase Dunwoody, Greenleaf Whittier Pickard
1964—Rectenna—William C. Brown

Readings on wikipedia: