Electricity
Efforts to understand and harness electricity began in the 18th century. Scientists thought electricity could be used to create a cheap way for people to light their homes. One of the most notable pioneers in electricity was Thomas Edison, who developed the first practical electrical light bulb in the late 1870s. Edison launched a company that would later become General Electric and opened America’s first central power plant in New York in 1882. Edison’s electrical system used direct current (DC), which was the standard in the United States during the early years of electricity. However, Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse were in favor of alternating current (AC), which transmitted electricity over long distances more economically than DC. Worried that he would begin losing profits from his DC patents, Edison began a campaign to discredit AC. This bitter dispute between these inventors became known as the War of the Currents. This “war” came to an unofficial end during the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, when Westinghouse beat out General Electric in a bid to supply electricity to the fair using AC. AC soon became dominant in the electric power industry. Most of our electricity today is powered by AC, although DC has seen a bit of a resurgence in recent years.
R.W. for American Essence
