Wind power only received occasional attention since the introduction of electricity until the 1970s, when a revived interest in alternativeenergy sources spurred the development thread that led to today’s wind turbines. Although attention and financial support at thetime were directed toward government-funded MW-scale wind turbines, the small models developed in the late 1970s for the Danishmarket were ultimately the way forward. The wind industry has since matured, as evidenced by the lower specific power and highercapacity factors of recent turbine models and the similarity between their power curve shapes. Moreover, this study highlights two historicalaccomplishments by Europeans that are sometimes incorrectly credited to Americans: the first wind turbine to generate electricitywas built in 1883 by Austrian Josef Friedländer and the Danish Agricco (1919) became the first public grid-connected windturbine. © The Author(s) 2024