Comment by dekhn

No. They were observed in the 1800s, but the structure and mechanism were not elucidated until around 1970 https://www.nature.com/articles/245380a0 It was a big surprise to see elements that greatly resembled existing motors (stator, rotor, etc) and in fact was one of the things that inspired the concept of intelligent design (even though, we believe instead that it evolved spontaneously)