“The first reference to the pyroelectric effect is found in writings by Theophrastus(c. 314 BC), who noted that lyngourion, tourmaline, could attract sawdust or bits of straw when heated.[9] Tourmaline’s properties were rediscovered in 1707 by Johann Georg Schmidt, who noted that the stone attracted only hot ashes, not cold ones.[10] In 1717 Louis Lemery noticed, as Schmidt had, that small scraps of non-conducting material were first attracted to tourmaline, but then repelled by it once they contacted the stone.[11] In 1747 Linnaeus first related the phenomenon to electricity (he called tourmaline Lapidem Electricum, "the electric stone"),[12]although this was not proven until 1756 by Franz Ulrich Theodor Aepinus.[13][citation needed]
Research into pyroelectricity became more sophisticated in the 19th century. In 1824 Sir David Brewster gave the effect the name it has today.[14] Both William Thomson in 1878[15] and Woldemar Voigt in 1897[16] helped develop a theory for the processes behind pyroelectricity. Pierre Curie and his brother, Jacques Curie, studied pyroelectricity in the 1880s, leading to their discovery of some of the mechanisms behind piezoelectricity.[citation needed]”