The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries witnessed massive and revolutionary changes. Railroads knitted America together, the importance of factories, mining, and finance increased by orders of magnitude, immigrants arrived by the tens of millions, and cities and homes began to be lit and powered by electricity. There was more than one kind of electricity, however, and each kind’s backers competed against the rest in what came to known as the “War of the Currents”, with untold riches as the prize for whoever won.
When Thomas Edison Cheated Nikola Tesla
Electricity had been known for quite some time before the War of the Currents. However, until the second half of the nineteenth century, nobody had figured out how to put it widespread practical use. It took Nikola Tesla (1856 – 1943), a Serb inventor who arrived in America with just four cents in his pocket, to make the things that made electricity a part of everyday life. The Serb immigrant he invented electric generators, fluorescent lights, spark plugs, remote controls, robots, FM radio, and the Tesla Coil that is used to transmit radio and TV broadcasts.
Shortly after Tesla arrived in the US, he got a job working for Thomas Edison. The Wizard of Menlo Park wanted the brilliant but naïve new immigrant to redesign his electrical generators and perfect his light bulb, and promised Tesla $50,000 if he succeeded. Tesla succeeded, but when he asked for what he had been promised, Edison laughed it off and said: “Tesla, you just don’t understand our American humor. When you become a full-fledged American, you will appreciate an American joke”. Understandably upset, Tesla quit and took his talents to Edison’s greatest rival, George Westinghouse.
The War of the Currents
Today, alternating current (AC) lights up our homes and workplaces, and powers up our appliances through wall sockets. Direct current (DC), by contrast, is used mostly in batteries. In the nineteenth century, however, the issue was undecided, and powerful interests fiercely competed in a “War of the Currents” to decide whether AC or DC would dominate the world. Tesla would decide it against Edison. He got a job working for George Westinghouse. The champion of alternating current, Westinghouse pushed AC as the best means to bring electricity to the masses.
On the side of direct current was Thomas Edison, who championed DC as the safer choice. There was serious money at stake, and Edison had cause to regret screwing his former employee over. DC has serious shortcomings compared to AC: it is weaker, and can only be transported short distances. However, Edison had already invested millions in direct current, and he was not about to let the upstart alternating current flush that investment down the drain if he could help it. Unfortunately for Edison, karma came back and bit him for having cheated Tesla out of his promised bonus.
Tesla Paid Back Edison, and Revolutionized the World
Nikola Tesla, smarting over how had been screwed by Edison, played a key role in wrecking the famous inventor’s direct current investment. Employed by Westinghouse, Tesla basically designed the modern AC electricity supply system that ensured its easy delivery and use. That ensured the defeat of Thomas Edison and his DC plan. In addition to his key role in developing readily usable alternating current – a scientific contribution that revolutionized the world – Tesla had a long list of other major inventions.
Tesla had more than seven hundred patents in twenty six countries. They included electric generators; electric arc lamps, spark plugs; X-ray devices; fluorescent lights; robots; remote controls, bladeless turbines, the Tesla Coil; and FM radio. Indeed, the modern world as we know it would be impossible without Tesla. In the words of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers: “Were we to seize and eliminate from our industrial world the results of Mr. Tesla’s work, the wheels of industry would cease to turn, our towns would be dark”.
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Some Sources & Further Reading
Carlson, W. Bernard – Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age (2013)
Cheney, Margaret – Tesla: Man Out of Time (2011)
Daily Best – What the Hell Has Hollywood Got Against Nikola Tesla?
History Halls – The Keely Engine Proved that Gibberish Sells if it Sounds Like Science
