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)
Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the latter half of the 19th century after the commercialization of the electric telegraph, the telephone, and electrical power generation, distribution, and use.
Electrical engineering encompasses many different fields, including computer engineering, systems engineering, power engineering, telecommunications, radio-frequency engineering, signal processing, instrumentation, control engineering, photovoltaic cells, electronics, and optics and photonics. Many of these disciplines overlap with other engineering branches, spanning a huge number of specializations including hardware engineering, power electronics, electromagnetics and waves, microwave engineering, nanotechnology, electrochemistry, renewable energies, mechatronics/control, and electrical materials science. Machine learning and computer science techniques are also further studied due to being historically developed as fields of electrical engineering.
Electrical engineers typically hold a degree in electrical engineering, electronic or electrical and electronic engineering. Practicing engineers may have professional certification and be members of a professional body or an international standards organization. These include the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET, formerly the IEE).
Electrical engineers work in a very wide range of industries and the skills required are likewise variable. These range from circuit theory to the management skills of a project manager.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Electrical engineering” as 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). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as 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). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q43035. The Library of Congress control number is sh85041666. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
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This entry incorporates text from “Electrical engineering” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.