139: Disruptive Technology and the War of the Currents

The War of the Currents was a real competition between two important industrial figures, Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse, over which type of power would become the dominant standard for distributing electricity across the United States.

Edison was the initial combatant and championed direct current, or DC, in which electricity would flow in one direction as batteries do.

Westinghouse favored alternating current, or AC, in which the electricity reversed its flow in regular periods.

After Edison successfully demonstrated a limited distribution system of DC, its limitations began to appear at scale, and questions arose as to how DC power could be generated and distributed nationwide.

Westinghouse was convinced that AC was better suited for scale and could be reliably and safely transmitted over much longer distances.

Now, a third figure, Nikola Tesla, played a critical role in the story as he was initially an employee of Edison, but would be fired and then join Westinghouse's side.

The movie portrays the tension that rose into open conflict between the DC and AC camps.

Edison was perhaps too committed to the investments already put into DC and too concerned over his legacy, and so began a campaign to out AC as extremely dangerous and unfit for use.

Westinghouse initially did not respond to such claims until they grew into a smear campaign.

Despite being openly opposed to any use of electricity to harm another human being, Edison began electrocuting animals as a way of demonstrating AC's supposed danger.

As these and other tactics slowly eroded support for AC power, Westinghouse responded with a campaign of his own.

Now, what ended the war was the eighteen ninety-three World's Fair in Chicago, followed by the construction of a hydroelectric plant in upstate New York that delivered AC current.

These events showed that AC was the better standard.