This Day in History: 1849-03-17

Wind turbine inventor American electrical inventor who built the first wind turbine to generate electricity in 1888, Charles Brush was born on this day in 1849. The 12 kilowatt windmill operated at Brush’s home in Cleveland Ohio for 20 years. Brush’s company also built one of the first hydroelectric plants in a dam in 1882. The electric manufacturing company was eventually merged with General Electric.