There have been many scientists of French origin that have contributed to discoveries in electricity and electrical generators. France has shown its respect for these scientists by listing many of their names on the Eiffel Tower. There is one contributor, whose name is not listed on the Eiffel Tower. Hippolyte Pixii’s name is not on the Eiffel Tower, but he contributed to the discovery and modification for an early form of the electric generator or dynamo. Hippolyte Pixii constructed the hand cranking generator in 1832 based on magnetic induction, the principles founded by British scientist Mike Faraday. Generators produce electricity from mechanical energy sources, such as the hand crank, compressed air, waterwheel, and other sources that produce mechanical energy. Pixii was a Frenchman that made instruments and found that spinning a magnet with a hand crank over coils that contained a core of iron delivers not only alternate current, but also direct current that could be utilized when a device was added for converting alternate current into direct current . The commutator was added to the dynamo to convert the alternate current into direct current, because Andre-Marie Ampere the Frenchman that helped to discover electromagnetism made this suggestion to Pixii.