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Nikola Tesla in his Colorado Springs laboratory, c. 1899: a deliberate double-exposure publicity photograph
Nikola Tesla in his Colorado Springs laboratory, c. 1899: a deliberate double-exposure publicity photograph. Photo: Dickenson V. Alley (restoration by Lošmi) · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons
Lost technologies · United States · 1884 – 1943

Tesla vs. Edison: The War of the Currents

Established1884 CE – 1943 CENiagara Falls, New York, USA

Alternating current won the battle to power the world. The rivalry behind it has become a legend of its own.

Nikola Tesla arrived in New York in 1884 and worked briefly for Thomas Edison, whose companies built power systems on direct current (DC). In 1887 Tesla filed patents for an alternating current (AC) motor and system, and George Westinghouse licensed them. What followed was the 'war of the currents'. Edison's camp warned that AC was deadly; an electrician named Harold Brown, secretly paid by Edison, staged public demonstrations and designed the first electric chair using AC, used to execute William Kemmler in 1890.

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How to read the labels

EstablishedSupported by strong, converging evidence.
ContestedEvidence exists but qualified scholars disagree.
UnresolvedThe question is open; evidence does not settle it.
LegendComes from myth, literature or tradition, not physical evidence.
SpeculativeA hypothesis with little direct evidence so far.

Hero image: Nikola Tesla in his Colorado Springs laboratory, c. 1899: a deliberate double-exposure publicity photograph. Photo: Dickenson V. Alley (restoration by Lošmi) · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons. Evidence labels describe the written claims, not the image. Version 1 · updated 2026-10-22.