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This paper describes the development of the voltage-source equivalent circuit. A subsequent paper [2] concerns the current-source equivalent and summarizes the story. The formal roots of equivalent circuits are Ohm's Law, Kirchoff's Laws, and the Principle of Superposition. Georg Simon Ohm (1789--1854) described his theory of conductors in his 1827 book [3]. Gustav Robert Kirchoff (1824--1887) described what have since become known Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/JPROC.2003.811716 as his laws in the 1840s. The Principle of Superposition was first clearly proclaimed by Hermann von Helmholtz (1821--1894) [see Fig. 2(a)] in his 1853 paper [4], in which he credits the result to his friend mil du Bois-Reymond (1818--1896). In the same paper, Helmholtz derives the voltage-source equivalent and illustrates its application. Thirty years later, Lon Charles Thvenin (1857--1926) [see Fig. 2(b)] , an engineer working for France's Postes et Tlgraphes, published the same result [5], [6], apparently unaware of Helmholtz's work |