Edison even publicly electrocuted stray animals using AC power as a scare tactic. Inventor and physicist Thomas Edison (1847 - 1931) looking at a lightbulb (Photo by Nathan Lazarnick/George Eastman House/Getty Images) Getty ImagesĪccording to the US Department of Energy, Edison did not want to lose royalties he was earning from his DC patents, so he attempted to discredit Tesla’s AC power through a misinformation campaign that touted alternating current as dangerous. “Tesla quit and he ended up in a battle with Edison,” Alessi said. But Edison never paid him the money, and claimed the promise was a joke. “He was working 20 hour days, and the whole time he was saying ‘let’s switch to AC current, it will work better,’ ” Alessi told CNN.

With AC power, the current is reversed numerous times per second, making it easy to convert to higher and lower voltages. Meanwhile, Tesla’s alternating current had fewer issues. This is the Tesla technology that sparked a war with Edison, the developer of direct current, and it’s the subject of the new film.īack in 1884, Tesla left Europe to work for Edison, who supposedly promised him $50,000 to fix the problems with DC power. We take a look at the most famous and important inventions that Nikola Tesla contributed to. Motors, radios, X-rays, neon signs and other technology was advanced by his extraordinary mind. “If Tesla didn’t accelerate the AC current system, we would be 50 years behind technologically than where we are today.”īut it’s not just AC power that Tesla worked on. Nikola Tesla's lab at Wardenclyffe in New York, which is being transformed into a science, education, and technology center.

My inventions by nikola tesla