Who discovered wind energy?

The ancient Egyptians were the first people known to harness wind energy, using it to power boats up and down the Nile River as long ago as 5000 B.C. In ancient Persia, windmills were used to grind harvested grain and pump water through early plumbing systems.

Wind power continued to spread throughout the Middle East, and it arrived in Europe around 1000 A.D., when northern countries like The Netherlands used windmill technology to drain marshes and lakes throughout the Rhine River Delta. While wind turbines first became popular for generating electricity in the 1890s, the mass production of wind farms did not begin in the United States until the early 2000s.