The Power Battle: AC versus DC
Posters
In the late 19th century Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse battled over which electrical transmission system, direct current (DC) or alternating current (AC), would become standard. Edison championed the direct-current system, while Tesla and Westinghouse promoted the alternating-current system.
Edison opened his first DC power plant, in New York City, in 1882. Tesla, on the other hand invented AC and sold his patents to industrialist George Westinghouse in 1885, Westinghouse Electric Company had quickly become an Edison competitor.