The piezoelectric effect, discovered in 1880 by Pierre and Jacques Curie, remained a mere curiosity until the 1940s. The property of certain crystals to exhibit electrical charges under mechanical loading was of no practical use until very high input impedance amplifiers enabled engineers to amplify the signals produced by these crystals. In the 1950s, electrometer tubes of sufficient quality became available and the piezoelectric effect was commercialized. The charge amplifier principle was patented by W.P. Kistler in 1950 and gained practical significance in the 1960s. The introduction of MOSFET solid-state circuitry and the development of highly insulating materials such as Teflon and Kapton greatly improved performance and propelled the use of piezoelectric sensors into virtually all areas of modern technology and industry.
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