who invented the electric chair

The electric chair was invented by Alfred P. Southwick, a dentist and inventor from Buffalo, New York. He conceived the idea in 1881 after learning about a man who was accidentally electrocuted and died quickly, inspiring Southwick to seek a more humane method of execution than hanging. Southwick developed the electric chair as a device for execution, adapting a chair-like model due to his background in dentistry. His idea gained official adoption in New York State in the late 1880s, leading to the first execution by electric chair in 1890.