While it had been known since the time of the Ancient Greeks that lightning was a form of energy, it would not be until much later that researchers would begin conducting experimental research into its power. In the early 18th Century, Francis Hauksbee created the world’s first electric generator; a means of producing energy. Stephen Gray and Granville Wheler discovered that electricity could be conducted across a distance through contact; a means of transmission. Benjamin Franklin’s famous experiment showed the world that lightning and static electricity were related. Later, Alessandro Volta created the Voltaic Pile, the world’s first battery, which effectively was a stable source of electrical current. Other scientists would show the relationship between these currents and magnetism, kicking off the study of electrodynamics. With batteries and an understanding of electromagnetism, and the advent of Michael Faraday’s electric motor, the world was fast approaching an age of electricity.
In the latter half of the 19th Century, Thomas Edison founded his Menlo Park workshop, where his team would create the incandescent light bulb, a much safer means of household lighting compared to gas lanterns, and powering it with his direct current (DC) system. This allowed people to stay up later in the evening, elongating the workday or expanding leisure time. He opened the world’s first commercial power plant with this Pearl Street Station. Edison, it seems, was a ‘big picture’ thinker, and saw the profitability to be had by building these DC stations to power homes across the country. He saw the limitations of his DC grid, in that its output quickly depleted with distance from the source, meaning powerplants would need to be placed in abundance and so, turned to Nikola Telsa to help solve the problem. Telsa designed the alternative: the alternating current (AC) system, which allowed for the transmission of power over greater distances through a series of high-tension wires. After a dispute, Edison and Telsa soon parted ways, and Telsa’s AC patent was eventually picked up by George Westinghouse, who had aspirations of it being America’s primary power source. Naturally, Edison saw this as a threat to his DC system and so, launched a campaign of propaganda against the safety of alternating current, thus sparking the War of the Currents in the late 1800s.
Upon hearing that a person was killed when coming into contact with an AC generator, Edison sought to use this angle to defend his direct current system. He went on a crusade to show the world the dangers of alternating current by having pets and animals publicly electrocuted with AC power. Edison also backed the creation of an AC-based electric chair to further scare people away from its use. But in the end, it was Telsa and Westinghouse who would win the War of the Currents, when their system was be used to power the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago and later, the Niagara Falls hydroelectric project. These successes showed it was far better suited than DC at providing large-scale electrical distribution, and could be delivered cheaply and efficiently across long distances, making nationwide electrification more feasible.