In the program "Historically yours" on Europe 1 this Friday, the journalist David Castello-Lopes looks back on the origin of wind turbines, these large towers topped with propellers which have been blooming across the world for a few years to produce electricity . 

>> Every day in 

Historically yours

, David Castello-Lopes looks back on the origins of an object or a concept.

This Friday, he looks at wind turbines, these large towers topped with propellers that have been popping up around the world for a few years to produce electricity.

A chronicle difficult to achieve for 

David Castello-Lopes, who hates the wind since it reminds him, with each gust, that he has an unfortunate tendency to lose his hair.

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The wind has become my enemy

“Because of my hair I like the wind less and less. At one time, I had admirable hair density and the wind made it better. Whenever there was a gust of wind I had the looks both sensitive and sexy. But now, as my hairline recedes, the wind has mainly the effect of making it appear. And suddenly I don't like it too much ... "sexytude" the wind has become my enemy, so that's a problem. 

But I still have to admit that the wind has two objective qualities: it is available in infinite quantities and it is free.

Two weighty arguments therefore, which makes it one of the most trendy energy sources of the moment, hence the fact that the world is covered with wind turbines which are, by the way, still among the most elegant creations and the most graphic of the contemporary world.

Not to mention that they produce a little more than 6% of our electricity each year in France. 

It all started 5,000 years ago with the sailing boat

So where do wind turbines come from?

Of course, it's unclear who was the first person to realize that the wind was a source of energy.

Personally, I think it must have been someone who noticed that his hair moved on its own in certain situations and that he was sexy.

The guy must have been like, 'wait, but if that makes my hair move, maybe it can move some other stuff.

For example a boat. '

And this is how the sailing boat was born 5,000 years ago. 

From there, we were on the right track and little by little, we started to use the wind to power flour mills or water pumps.

It is moreover especially with water pumps powered by the wind that the Dutch removed all the sea that there was in excess in their country.

One way to make it a more respectable country.

But of course, a wind turbine is neither a water pump nor a flour mill, it is a machine for generating electricity.

Logically, for the wind turbine to exist, electricity therefore had to exist.

An annoying 19th century geek

The production of electricity began in the middle of the 19th century and the first city to be lit with electricity in France was Bellegarde-sur-Valserine, in the Ain, in 1884. But it took four more years for that the wind turbine be invented in the US state of Ohio by a man named Charles Brush.

Charles was some sort of annoying little 19th century geek, the kind of guy you copy your math tests to.

But hey, maths is not cool when you want to make love earlier than others, it's also super useful for having a good job, succeeding in life ... and maybe doing the love.

From an erotic point of view, math is therefore an investment in the future if you will.

Charles Brush understood that well and therefore invented a lot of things related to electricity, including the first wind turbine.

It was in 1887 on the large property he had built with math money.

It was 18 meters high,

roughly 

the size of a Parisian building, and was just used to light ... his own house. 

To have a point of comparison, the Haliade X from General Electrics, which will be commissioned in 2021, is 260 meters high, or 50 meters more than the Montparnasse tower.

It will produce enough electricity to power 16,000 homes, which is way more than the windmill of this annoying 19th century geek Charles Bush.