The two feuding geniuses waged a “War of Currents” in the 1880s over whose electrical system would power the world — Tesla’s alternating-current (AC) system or Edison’s rival direct-current (DC) electric power. Amongst science nerds, few debates get more heated than the ones that compare Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison.

What year was AC electricity?

1886 – Great Barrington, Massachusetts – the first full AC power system in the world is demonstrated using step up and step down transformers. The system was built by William Stanley and funded by Westinghouse.

What is Tesla alternating current?

In 1887, Tesla developed an induction motor that ran on alternating current (AC), a power system format that was rapidly expanding in Europe and the United States because of its advantages in long-distance, high-voltage transmission.