# electrical engineering

> field of engineering that deals with electricity (its control and processing as information in electronic form, or during the control and generation of mechanical, magnetic, or other forms of energy; compare Q988785)

**Wikidata**: [Q43035](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q43035)  
**Wikipedia**: [English](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_engineering)  
**Source**: https://4ort.xyz/entity/electrical-engineering

## Summary
Electrical engineering is the branch of engineering that deals with electricity: its control and the processing of information in electronic form, and with the control and generation of mechanical, magnetic or other forms of energy. It is an applied-science discipline that spans power systems, electronics, communications, signal processing, and related subfields.

## Key Facts
- Wikidata description: "field of engineering that deals with electricity (its control and processing as information in electronic form, or during the control and generation of mechanical, magnetic, or other forms of energy; compare Q988785)".
- Instance types and classifications (Wikidata): instance_of Q12015335, Q4671286, Q11862829; subclass_of Q11023.
- Common alias: "EE".
- Wikipedia title (source): "Electrical engineering".
- Sitelink_count (Wikidata summary): 124 sitelinks across Wikipedias.
- Selected structured Wikidata properties (names and values as provided):
  - P18: Umspannwerk-Pulverdingen 380kV-Trennschalter.jpg
  - P227: 4014390-9
  - P244: sh85041666
  - P268: 11950702h
  - P349: 00561340
  - P373: Electrical engineering
  - P443: LL-Q188 (deu)-Ionenlaser-Elektrotechnik.wav
  - P508: 1779
  - P646: /m/02lp1
  - P691: ph114460
  - P902: 013890
  - P920: LEM201003135
  - P1014: 300054490
  - P1036 / P1190: 621.3 (classification code listed twice)
  - P1245: 1106
  - P1296: 0100695
  - P1417: technology/electrical-and-electronics-engineering
  - P1482: https://engineering.stackexchange.com/tags/electrical-engineering
  - P1617: 07cb0aad-c968-4da7-8a0e-f87846345aab
  - P2167: 73171503
  - P2347: 1585
  - P2357: 14.1001
  - P2581: 00029856n
  - P3365: elettrotecnica
  - P3417: Electrical-Engineering
  - P3827: electrical-engineering
  - P3911: 18426-4
  - P3916: concept621
  - P3984: ElectricalEngineering
  - P4239: הַנְדָּסַת חַשְׁמַל
  - P4342: elektroteknikk
  - P4527: 91081
  - P4613: 17778
  - P4644: 3e40c7d0-0e36-4b33-bc33-0aa87eda0561
  - P5034: KSH1998039792
  - P5395: electrical-engineering
  - P5437: 710, 1401
  - P5748: 53.00
  - P6366: 119599485
  - P6541: https://electronics.stackexchange.com
  - P6706: elettrotècnica
  - P7982: 17676
  - P8189: 987007535941405171
  - P8349: 19531
  - P8408: ElectricalEngineeringField
  - P8529: 4008, 400899
  - P8855: 151-11-11
  - P9100: electrical-engineering
  - P9287: 13131
  - P10203: 2208
  - P10283: C119599485
  - P10376: chemistry/electrical-engineering, physics-and-astronomy/electrical-engineering, engineering/electrical-engineering, earth-and-planetary-sciences/electrical-engineering
  - P11514: elektrotekhnika-0bf497
  - P12086: Elektrotechniek
  - P12385: electrotecnia
  - P12596: 19475
  - P13388: isut102
  - P13591: concept/39a86186-28f6-40d8-87e9-9099799a65d5
  - P13691: 1289
  - P13780: disciplines/57
  - P1417 (again): technology/electrical-and-electronics-engineering
- Parent / part-of relationships and closely associated disciplines:
  - engineering (type: applied science)
  - electromechanics (discipline combining electrical and mechanical engineering)
  - electrical industry (industrial sector; industry Q43035)
  - electromechanical components and terms: insulator; air gap
  - power and reliability: SAIDI (reliability index used by electric power utilities)
  - devices and components: DC-to-DC converter
  - transportation and automotive connections: automotive engineering
  - communications and electronics subfields: telecommunications engineering; microwave engineering; electronic engineering; electro-optics; broadcast engineering; electrochemical engineering; power engineering
  - energy and transmission: electricity generation; electric power transmission; load factor
- Related academic classifications: branch of engineering; academic major; academic discipline.
- Related professional organizations (explicitly present): Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) — American professional association for electronic and electrical engineering.
- Notation: the term appears in many languages and subject taxonomies (examples shown in properties P3365, P6706, P12086, P12385).

## FAQs
Q: What does electrical engineering cover?
A: Electrical engineering covers the control and use of electricity, the processing of electrical signals as information in electronic form, and the control and generation of mechanical, magnetic, or other forms of energy. It includes subfields such as power engineering, electronic engineering, telecommunications, microwave engineering, electro-optics, and electrochemical engineering.

Q: How is electrical engineering classified academically and professionally?
A: It is classified as a branch of engineering, an academic major, and an academic discipline. It appears in engineering taxonomies and library/classification schemes (classification codes such as 621.3 are recorded in the provided metadata).

Q: Which industries and sectors does electrical engineering relate to?
A: Electrical engineering underpins the electrical industry, power generation and transmission, telecommunications, broadcast engineering, medical and imaging technologies (electro-optics), automotive engineering applications, and industrial sectors that produce components like DC-to-DC converters and insulators.

Q: What are common components, measures, and technical terms in the field?
A: Common components and terms include insulator, air gap, DC-to-DC converter; system-level measures and concepts include SAIDI (a reliability index used by electric power utilities) and load factor (average power divided by peak power over time).

Q: What professional bodies and communities maintain the discipline?
A: Professional organizations include the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The discipline is also represented across academic departments, international federations (e.g., IFIP in historical context listed among related people/organizations), and industry consortia.

Q: Who are some historically or technically notable people and organizations connected to electrical engineering?
A: The field is connected to many engineers, inventors, scientists and firms listed in the source material (see Notable People and Organizations below). Those include Jack Kilby (co‑inventor of the integrated circuit), Claude Shannon (information theory and digital circuit design), Robert Metcalfe (Ethernet), John L. Hennessy (computer architecture/RISC), and companies like Siemens, ABB Group, Parsons Corporation, and ASEA.

## Why It Matters
Electrical engineering is central to modern technology and infrastructure. It provides the scientific and engineering foundations for generation, transmission and distribution of electrical power; the design of electronic circuits and devices that store, process and communicate information; and the sensors and actuators that convert between electrical energy and mechanical, magnetic or optical domains. The field enabled transformational inventions and industries: integrated circuits and microprocessors (Jack Kilby, Marcian Hoff), information theory and digital communications (Claude Shannon), networking and Ethernet (Robert Metcalfe), as well as power systems and reliability metrics (SAIDI, load factor). Electrical engineering drives consumer electronics, telecommunications, computing hardware, medical imaging, automation, transportation electrification, and renewable energy integration. Its standards, components and design practices directly affect safety, efficiency, cost and scalability of systems used by industry, governments and the public.

## Notable For
- Defining and implementing the control and generation of electrical, magnetic and related energy forms in practical systems.
- Enabling the integrated-circuit revolution through pioneers such as Jack Kilby (co-inventor of the IC).
- Founding the mathematical and theoretical basis for digital communications and circuits via Claude Shannon (information theory, digital circuit design).
- Producing core technologies for computing and networking (e.g., Ethernet by Robert Metcalfe; contributions to microprocessors by Marcian Hoff, Masatoshi Shima).
- Spanning power systems and reliability metrics, including industry measures like SAIDI and engineering concepts such as load factor.
- Encompassing subdisciplines that bridge physics and electronics: electro-optics; microwave engineering; electrochemical engineering; broadcast engineering; telecommunications engineering; electronic engineering; power engineering.
- Integrating with other engineering fields: electromechanics (explicitly noted as a discipline combining electrical and mechanical engineering) and automotive engineering (application domain).
- Being maintained, standardized, and advanced by major professional bodies such as the IEEE and by industrial leaders (Siemens, ABB Group, Parsons Corporation, ASEA).
- Appearing across multilingual taxonomies and classification systems (many Wikidata properties and language labels indicate broad international presence and terminology).

## Body

### Definition and scope
- Electrical engineering is an applied-science branch of engineering concerned with electricity and its uses.
- Scope includes: electrical power (generation, transmission, storage, conversion), electronic circuits and devices, signal processing, telecommunications, control systems, and conversion between electrical and other energy forms (mechanical, magnetic, optical).
- The field processes electrical phenomena as information in electronic form (digital/analog signal processing) and implements control/generation of mechanical, magnetic and other energy types.

### Subfields and related disciplines
- Power and energy:
  - Power engineering — deals with power generation, conversion, storage, transport and forwarding in electrical networks and use of electrical energy.
  - Electricity generation — processes and systems for producing electrical power.
  - Electric power transmission — bulk movement of electrical energy from generation sites to substations.
  - Load factor — average power divided by peak power over a period; relevant to network and utility planning.
  - SAIDI — a reliability index used by electric power utilities; an operational performance metric linked to power engineering.
- Electronics and devices:
  - Electronic engineering — utilizes nonlinear and active electrical components to design electronic circuits, devices and their systems.
  - DC-to-DC converter — device to convert direct current from one voltage level to another; example component in power electronics.
  - Insulator — component made of insulating materials used for fixing, maintaining or guiding electrical conductors.
  - Air gap — term used in electrical engineering and magnetism; design parameter in magnetic circuits and electromechanical devices.
- Communications and signal processing:
  - Telecommunications engineering — records, transmits, processes and stores communications; a subfield of electrical engineering.
  - Microwave engineering — study and design of microwave-frequency systems.
  - Broadcast engineering — originally a field of electrical engineering, now overlapping with computer engineering and IT for radio and television broadcasting.
  - Fading — variation of signal attenuation with variables; relevant to wireless communications.
- Interdisciplinary and applied branches:
  - Electro-optics — branch of material physics and devices involving photoelectronic devices.
  - Electrochemical engineering — technological applications of electrochemical phenomena, with electrical engineering overlap.
  - Electroacoustics — branch of acoustic engineering related to electrical transducers and signal processing.
  - Electromechanics — blends electrical and mechanical engineering for devices such as motors, generators, relays, and actuators.
  - Automotive engineering — includes electrical engineering aspects (vehicle electrics, control systems); automotive engineering appears twice in the provided parent list, indicating a significant link.
  - Computer engineering — class that combines electrical engineering and computer science; an adjacent/overlapping discipline (summary included in source material).

### Academic structure and classification
- Electrical engineering is treated as:
  - A branch of engineering, an academic major and an academic discipline.
  - Library/classification references in the provided metadata include codes such as 621.3 (appearing multiple times) and multiple P10376 subject intersections with chemistry, physics and earth/planetary sciences indicating multidisciplinary classification.
- Educational and research programs combine theoretical foundations (e.g., information theory, signal processing) with practical training in devices, circuits, and systems.

### Industry, companies and professional organizations
- Industrial sector: electrical industry (industry Q43035).
- Notable companies and organizations mentioned in the source as connected to electrical engineering:
  - ASEA — Swedish industry company associated with electrical industry themes.
  - Siemens (Siemens & Halske historical reference) — German multinational conglomerate, with industry ties to electrical engineering.
  - ABB Group — Swedish‑Swiss robotics and electrical equipment company.
  - Parsons Corporation — American engineering firm listing electrical engineering among its specialties; inception 1944; headquartered in Chantilly; operates in construction, IT, software, architecture, civil, electrical, transportation and structural engineering.
  - Kiepe Electric — German manufacturer of electrical traction equipment (inception +1906).
  - Hitachi Rail STS — subsidiary involved in industries including electrical engineering.
  - Eaton Industries, FIAMM, MAPNA, C. Lorenz AG, VEB Robotron, English Electric, Brown, Boveri & Cie (historical), ABB Group, ASEA — corporate presences in the field.
- Professional and standards organizations:
  - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) — American professional association for electronic and electrical engineering (inception +1963 as IEEE; headquarters Q11299).
  - Historical organizations: American Institute of Electrical Engineers (inception 1884).
  - International bodies and federations appear in associated personnel histories (e.g., IFIP with Ambros Speiser).

### Components, devices, and technical measures
- Insulator — fixing/maintaining/guiding conductors; important in power systems and high-voltage engineering.
- Air gap — design term in magnetics and electromechanical devices.
- DC-to-DC converter — power-electronic device for voltage-level conversion in DC systems.
- Reliability and system metrics: SAIDI (power utility reliability index); load factor (average/peak power metric).

### Notable people linked to the discipline (names and roles drawn from provided material)
- Foundational theorists, inventors and engineers connected to electrical engineering and its subfields (selection from provided list; descriptors reflect source):
  - Claude Shannon — American mathematician and information theorist; founder of information theory and digital circuit design.
  - Jack Kilby — American electrical engineer; co-inventor of the integrated circuit (IC) in 1958; Nobel Prize in Physics 2000.
  - Robert H. Dennard — American engineer and inventor (DRAM one‑transistor cell; scaling theory).
  - Robert Metcalfe — American electrical engineer; inventor of Ethernet and formulator of Metcalfe's law.
  - Marcian Hoff — American electrical engineer; conceived/designed the Intel 4004 microprocessor.
  - Ken Olsen — American engineer and businessman; co-founder of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC).
  - Pat Hanrahan, John L. Hennessy, Gordon Bell — figures whose work intersects electrical engineering with computer architecture, graphics and systems.
  - Jack Kilby, Jack Kilby (repeat avoided) — (see above).
  - Jack Kilby, Claude Shannon, Robert Metcalfe, Marcian Hoff, Jack Kilby, John L. Hennessy — numerous cross-disciplinary leaders.
- Additional engineers, researchers and academics listed in source material (names only with provided descriptors where available):
  - Ralph Hartley — American electronics researcher and information theorist (Bell Labs).
  - Robert H. Dennard — American engineer/inventor (DRAM).
  - Marcian Hoff — American electrical engineer (Intel 4004).
  - Masatoshi Shima — Japanese computer pioneer (Intel, Zilog).
  - Jack Kilby — see above.
  - George H. Heilmeier, Edwin Howard Armstrong, Harold S. Osborne, Wilson Greatbatch, Phillip Hagar Smith, Constance J. Chang-Hasnain, Claude Shannon, Robert Metcalfe, Michael J. Flynn, Simon Ramo, Jack Kilby, Leon O. Chua, Leonīds Ribickis, and many others referenced in the source.
  - Cryptography and communications figures with EE ties: Martin Hellman (Diffie‑Hellman key exchange), Abraham Lempel and Jacob Ziv (data compression algorithms), Robert Fano (information theory and coding), Abbas El Gamal (Claude E. Shannon Award recipient).
  - Wireless, signal processing and communications researchers: Andrea Goldsmith, Shlomo Shamai, Yonina Eldar, Lawrence Rabiner, Arogyaswami Paulraj, Abbas El Gamal, Shlomo Shamai.
  - Notable system and computer-engineering figures: Kunle Olukotun, John L. Hennessy, Robert Metcalfe, Gordon Bell, Pat Hanrahan, Steve Wozniak, Douglas Engelbart.
  - Power and systems engineers: Frank J. Sprague, Rudolf Hell, Heinrich Barkhausen, Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, Guglielmo Marconi, Heinrich Hertz.
  - Historical and regional contributors: Isaak Bruk (Soviet computing), Ambros Speiser (ERMETH, IBM Research Zurich), many others listed in the provided collection.
- The source lists numerous additional individuals (e.g., Leon O. Chua, Erich Bloch, Erich Bloch, Jacob Ziv, Abraham Lempel, Leonīds Ribickis, etc.); each is tied to electrical engineering fields such as information theory, signal processing, circuit design, power engineering, and electronics.

### Education, mentorship and academic lineages
- The field overlaps with academic programs at major technical universities; the source identified numerous academics and their roles as professors, doctoral advisors and doctoral students (examples: Robert Fano at MIT mentoring Frederick Jelinek; Abbas El Gamal supervising Alon Orlitsky; many others).
- Computer engineering is explicitly described as combining electrical engineering and computer science; many academic labs and professorships noted (Stanford, MIT, Technion, Rutgers, Princeton, Carnegie Mellon, etc.) illustrate typical academic homes for electrical engineering research.

### Historical development and innovations (as represented by people/organizations in source)
- Historical inventions and milestones present in the source material:
  - Integrated circuit (Jack Kilby, 1958).
  - Microprocessor (Marcian Hoff, Intel 4004).
  - Ethernet networking (Robert Metcalfe; 1970s).
  - Information theory and digital circuit design foundations (Claude Shannon; 1937 thesis and 1948 paper).
  - Data compression algorithms (Lempel–Ziv, Abraham Lempel and Jacob Ziv).
  - RISC architecture and commercial chip multiprocessors (John L. Hennessy; Kunle Olukotun’s multiprocessor work).
  - Early computers and research machines (ERMETH by Ambros Speiser at ETH Zurich).
- Industrialization and company roles:
  - Companies like Texas Instruments, Intel, IBM, Siemens, ABB, ASEA, Parsons and others executed and commercialized electrical engineering inventions and systems.

### Ecosystem, communities and resources
- Online communities and technical Q&A referenced by metadata: Engineering Stack Exchange and Electronics Stack Exchange (properties P1482, P6541).
- Standard-setting, awards and professional recognition: IEEE awards and fellowships, Claude E. Shannon Award, Marconi Prize, IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal, National Medals, Paris Kanellakis Award — many awards and honors appear in connected individual profiles (e.g., Jack Kilby, Claude Shannon, Abraham Lempel, Jacob Ziv, Andrea Goldsmith).
- Archival resources: many prominent engineers’ archives are referenced in individual bios (Computer History Museum, university archives).

### Applications and societal impact
- Power systems with reliability indices (SAIDI) ensure continuity of service for homes, businesses and industry.
- Telecommunications and wireless engineering enable global communications, satellite and cellular networks; topics such as fading, channel capacity and sampling (Nyquist–Shannon) are foundational.
- Electronics and microelectronics (integrated circuits, microprocessors) underpin personal computing, embedded systems, and the Internet of Things.
- Medical imaging and electro-optics drive advances in healthcare (e.g., MRIs, imaging systems).
- Automotive electrification combines electrical engineering with automotive engineering to provide propulsion, power electronics, sensors and control.
- Broadcast engineering and multimedia depend on electrical engineering innovations in signal processing and transmission.

### Terminology and multilingual presence
- The discipline is documented under numerous language labels and subject terms (examples from properties: elettrotecnica, elettrotècnica, Elektrotechniek, electrotecnia, elektroteknikk, Hebrew and others), reflecting a broad international terminology and practice.

### Related fields and overlaps
- Electrical engineering overlaps with computer engineering, computer science, physics, materials science, mechanical engineering (via electromechanics), and chemical engineering (via electrochemical engineering).
- Broadcast engineering, information theory, cryptography, control theory, robotics and avionics all intersect with electrical engineering research and practice.

### Representative component list and short definitions (from source)
- DC-to-DC converter: device that converts direct current (DC) from one voltage level to another.
- Insulator: component made of insulating materials used for fixing, maintaining or guiding electrical conductors.
- Air gap: term used in electrical engineering and magnetism.
- SAIDI: reliability index used by electric power utilities.
- Load factor: the average power divided by the peak power over a period of time.

### Geographic and institutional mentions in the material
- Many universities and national institutions appear in connected biographies: MIT, Stanford, Technion, University of Toronto, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Carnegie Mellon, Princeton, Bell Labs, IBM Research – Zurich, and others.
- Major multinational firms and regional manufacturers: Siemens, ABB Group, ASEA, Parsons Corporation, Kiepe Electric, Hitachi Rail STS, Eaton Industries, MAPNA and more.

### Closing notes
- The provided dataset presents electrical engineering as a broad, multilingual, and multidisciplinary engineering field with deep theoretical foundations (information theory, signal processing), major practical domains (power systems, electronics, telecommunications), a wide industrial base (manufacturers, utilities, systems integrators), and numerous influential people and institutions that contributed foundational inventions and standards. All relationships and properties above are drawn from the supplied source material.

## References

1. Iowa State University Library Vocabularies
2. [Source](https://lingualibre.fr/wiki/Q104755)
3. Nuovo soggettario
4. Freebase Data Dumps. 2013
5. BBC Things
6. General Finnish Ontology
7. BabelNet
8. [Electrical Engineering](https://old.reddit.com/r/ElectricalEngineering/)
9. National Library of Israel
10. KBpedia
11. [Source](https://vocabs.ardc.edu.au/viewById/316)
12. [electrical-engineering · GitHub Topics · GitHub](https://github.com/topics/electrical-engineering)
13. [OpenAlex](https://docs.openalex.org/download-snapshot/snapshot-data-format)