Contested Currents

The Race to Electrify America

JP Morgan

William Vanderbilt

Recreating Edison’s Inventions

Westinghouse Air Brakes

Gaulard & Gibbs's Transformer

One of George Westinghouse’s engineers, William Stanley Jr. (1858 - 1916), took the Gaulard-Gibbs transformer and modified it into a practical induction coil system for alternating current (AC).

Understanding Westinghouse’sAC Power

What is the nature of science?

1. What would you do if you were Westinghouse or Edison?

2. What should scientists and business leaders do with new technologies?

Both Westinghouse and Edison knew the incredible potential of electricity and the power of controlling its distribution.

What role should morality play in science and industry?

1. Should scientists and engineers promote their ideas and inventions?

2. Should they promote their ideas by discrediting others?

3. Is the “progress” of science always positive?

The Columbian Exposition in Chicago, 1893. The age of light that Edison and Westinghouse did so much to bring about was exemplified at the expo. At nightfall, "stopper" (or Sawyer-Man) lamps by Westinghouse provided the most spectacular lighting display the world had ever seen.

Columbian Exposition of 1893