Tesla’s, arguably, greatest invention was the alternating current (AC) power system still in use worldwide. Prior to Tesla, Edison had been attempting to create a similar system using direct current (DC). DC, however, came with certain limitations: it required a power station every mile and more copper than exists on earth to electrify the country.
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"Tesla was a poet...[his ideas were] magnificent but utterly impractical" Edison and Tesla started a vicious publicity battle called the War of the Currents. Edison attempted to scare the public away from his former employee’s system by publishing advertisements about AC’s dangers, even publicly electrocuting an elephant using alternating current. However, the shortcomings of DC could not be overcome. Although Tesla often eschewed pragmatism for idealism, in this case, his system was more practical.
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Tesla’s victory was assured when his partner company, Westinghouse Electric, won the contract to provide electricity to the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. Later, Tesla’s AC system was used to create the first hydroelectric generator and harness power from Niagara Falls. From this point forward, all electrical plants would use AC mechanisms.
“No man in our age has achieved such a universal scientific reputation in a single stride as this gifted young electrical engineer.” |
Bernard Finn, Public Broadcasting System [Tesla: Master of Lightning, 2000]
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