Floris Nollet was a Belgian

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 physicist, engineer, inventor.

Nollet was a grandnephew of Jean-Antoine Nollet

Jean-Antoine Nollet

Jean-Antoine Nollet was a French clergyman and physicist. As a priest, he was also known as Abbé Nollet. He was particularly interested in the new science of electricity, which he explored with the help of Du Fay and Réaumur...

. He became professor of physics at the École Militaire in Brussels

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

. He also founded the British-French company Société de l'Alliance.

Nollet designed plans for large-scale generator

Magneto (generator)

A magneto is an electrical generator that uses permanent magnets to produce alternating current. Unlike a dynamo, there is no commutator and so they cannot produce direct current...

s for the galvanization

Galvanization

Galvanization is the process of applying a protective zinc coating to steel or iron, in order to prevent rusting. The term is derived from the name of Italian scientist Luigi Galvani....

 industry, for limelight

Limelight

Limelight is a type of stage lighting once used in theatres and music halls. An intense illumination is created when an oxyhydrogen flame is directed at a cylinder of quicklime , which can be heated to 2572 °C before melting. The light is produced by a combination of incandescence and...

, and for electric arc

Electric arc

An electric arc is an electrical breakdown of a gas which produces an ongoing plasma discharge, resulting from a current flowing through normally nonconductive media such as air. A synonym is arc discharge. An arc discharge is characterized by a lower voltage than a glow discharge, and relies on...

s, an improvement on the work of Hippolyte Pixii

Hippolyte Pixii

Hippolyte Pixii was an instrument maker from Paris, France. In 1832 he built an early form of alternating current electrical generator, based on the principle of magnetic induction discovered by Michael Faraday. Pixii's device was a spinning magnet, operated by a hand crank, where the North and...

. His magneto-electric generator design for decomposing water by electrolysis

Electrolysis

In chemistry and manufacturing, electrolysis is a method of using a direct electric current to drive an otherwise non-spontaneous chemical reaction...

 using steam power was patented in England in 1850.