Seebeck Effect
The Seebeck effect is the conversion of heat directly into electricity at the junction of different types of wire. Originally discovered in 1794 by Italian scientist Alessandro Volta, it is named after the Baltic German physicist Thomas Johann Seebeck, who in 1821 independently rediscovered it. It was observed that a compass needle would be deflected by a closed loop formed by two different metals joined in two places, with a temperature difference between the joints. This was because the electron energy levels in each metal shifted differently and a potential difference between the junctions created an electrical current and therefore a magnetic field around the wires. Seebeck did not recognize that there was an electric current involved, so he called the phenomenon "thermomagnetic effect". Danish physicist Hans Christian Ørsted rectified the oversight and coined the term "thermoelectricity".
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