Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"Using very simple equipment (a magnet, a copper coil, and a basic ammeter), he demonstrated that moving a wire through a magnetic field induces an electric current whose voltage is proportional to the speed of the movement. Here was, in effect, the world's first dynamo. The principle that he had discovered underlies the fundamental operation of most modern-day electrical machines." [Furtado; 1001 Days]