Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor and electrical engineer whose work on alternating current (AC) power systems laid the foundation for modern electrical distribution.
A bitter feud between two competing visions for how electricity should reach every home — one Tesla's, one Edison's — quietly decided the wiring standard the entire world still uses today.
Arrival in America
Tesla emigrated to the United States in 1884 with little more than a letter of introduction to inventor Thomas Edison, and briefly worked for Edison's company before the two became bitter rivals in a dispute over compensation and technical philosophy.
The War of the Currents
Tesla and businessman George Westinghouse championed alternating current (AC) power as superior for long-distance electrical transmission, while Edison aggressively promoted his preferred direct current (DC) system, leading to a bitter public and commercial dispute known as the "War of the Currents" in the late 1880s and early 1890s.
AC Power Wins Out
Tesla's AC system ultimately prevailed due to its far greater efficiency over long distances, and it was chosen to power the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago and later to harness hydroelectric power at Niagara Falls — landmark achievements that cemented AC power as the global standard still used today.
A Prolific but Underfunded Visionary
Tesla held hundreds of patents and made significant contributions to radio technology, wireless transmission, and electromagnetism. Many of his more ambitious projects, including a scheme for wireless global energy transmission, were never realized due to chronic difficulty securing sustained financial backing.
A Legacy Rediscovered
Tesla died in 1943 in relative obscurity and financial hardship, but his contributions to alternating current are now recognized as foundational to the modern electrical grid, and his name has since become synonymous with electrical innovation — most visibly through the automaker named in his honor.
