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Electricity holds the power of life and death. In the late 19th century, the electricity was about to change the world. Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla, these two brilliant mind pitted against each other in an all-out battle to harness the power of electricity.
American genius Thomas Edison was a forward thinker. He holds over 2,300 patents in his name across multiple countries. But the invention which made him the greatest inventor of all time was a light bulb but making one was not an easy path for him. After hundreds and thousands of attempts, in October 1879 Edison found the element that allowed his light bulb to burn steadily, safely and repeatedly, CARBON. The use of carbonized thread was a breakthrough, but the invention of the light bulb was only the half the battle. To replace gas lighting with electricity, Edison would have to design and build an entirely new industry. It wasn't enough to just have a light bulb because in 1879 there were no pre-existing sockets, plugs, wirings in the house so Edison have to build everything and make an entire system to make his bulb used by the people.
But Edison was not the only genius trying to solve the problem of electricity. In a university in Austria, an ambitious physics student was formulating an idea for a radical new way of generating electricity. His name was Nikola Tesla.
"Nikola Tesla had a vision of what's to come in to the future. Tesla had enormous dreams and had the genius to carry them out" -Michio Kaku (Prof. of Theoretical Physics)
A generator creates an electrical current that naturally reverses its flow periodically. In Tesla's time, electrical current was delivered by channeling that current in a single direction which is called Direct Current. But Tesla envisions harnessing alternating current. AC would be more efficient way to deliver electrical power but there's just one problem, it was never done before.
Thomas Edison was on the verge of creating a system that will allow him to bring his new light bulb to people's home. Pearl Street Station located in Manhattan is the first power plant in the world which was built by Edison. Within two years Edison built 18 new power plants but each could only provide power within a half-mile radius. But Nikola Tesla has different ideas. For years Tesla has been trying to perfect his own invention, an alternating current motor and finally he succeeded to make a prototype. But to prove his idea, Nikola Tesla will have to come to America and confront the most famous scientist in the world, Thomas Alva Edison.
In 1884, Nikola Tesla started working for Edison. Tesla would fix problems in generators and dynamos. Edison would send the people he hire out into something that might seem very difficult or even impossible and just see if they could handle that. Tesla would fix the problems with great ease. Tesla showed that he was able to be parachuted into a problem and come up with a novel solution which Edison admired.
Edison Electric Company was growing at an incredible rate but Edison's direct current system has its limits. It could only deliver power effectively within about a half-mile of a power station. Nikola Tesla believed his alternating current can travel much farther and bring electricity to everyone. But alternating current seemed clearly more dangerous. Despite the dangers Nikola Tesla was convinced that his system is superior. Tesla presented his idea of using alternating current to Edison and he immediately refused to pursue his idea instead he promised Tesla $50,000 if he was able to make great improvements in his DC system. Tesla fixed Edison's DC system in few months and when he went to Edison to claim his money, Edison said that was a joke and you are not aware of our American humour. As a result, Tesla immediately decided to leave the Company. Now he would work against Edison to prove that his idea of using alternating current to power the world is better that Edison's DC system.
The two geniuses were against each other now and the war of current had just begun.
Read the Part 2 here: The Current War: AC vs DC (Part 2)
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