History of Science and Engineering Annotation << Back Outstanding Discoveries in DC Research (on the 260th Anniversary of the Birth of Academician Vasily Vladimirovich Petrov) A.F. Smyk, L.V. Spiridonova Аrticle is dedicated to Vasily Vladimirovich Petrov, an outstanding Russian scientist of the late XVIII–early XIX century, an experimental physicist, who carried out an in-depth analysis of scientific discoveries known at that time in the field of electrical engineering, the discoverer of the electric arc, a scientist who was the first to point out the dependence of the electric current strength on the cross-sectional area of the conductor. Keywords: electricity, electric arc, Vasily Vladimirovich Petrov, experimental scientist, teacher. DOI: 10.25791/intstg.1.2022.1331 Pp. 03-11.