Summary:
- Early chemists focused on practical questions – how to make dyes and perfumes, soap manufacture, uses of metals, and glass production.
- People just wanted to make things that would improve their lives in some way.
- The field of chemistry began to develop rapidly in the 1700s.
- The work of Alessandro Volta, Humphry Davy, and Michael Faraday eventually led to the development of batteries that provided a source of electricity to power a number of devices.
- Alfred Nobel (1833-1896) invented dynamite.