War of the Currents: The Rivality between Edison Vs Tesla
The "War of the Currents" was a time in history in the late nineteenth century when there was fierce competition between two competing electrical power systems: Thomas Edison's direct current (DC) system and Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse's alternating current (AC) system. Thomas Edison pioneered the use of direct current (DC) electricity for electrical distribution through his firm Edison Electric Light firm (later known as General Electric or GE). Due to its restricted transmission capabilities, DC electricity travels in just one way and necessitates power plants being situated near customers. On the other side, Nikola Tesla, with the financial backing of George Westinghouse, lobbied for alternating current power. AC electricity allows for more efficient long-distance transmission and the use of transformers to step up or step down voltage levels as needed. As each side sought to control the burgeoning electric power business, tensions between these two syste