The Battle of the Electric Currents: AC vs. DC

Electric power fueled America’s Second Industrial Revolution after the Civil War. Thomas Edison played a leading role, inventing the first reliable electric light bulb in the 1880s. His Edison Electric Light Company built generators to supply electricity and lighting using direct current (DC). Nikola Tesla, an immigrant from Serbia, came to America in 1884 and later became associated with a rival system based on alternating current (AC). Business tycoon George Westinghouse backed Tesla and the AC system.

 The competition was ruthless. Tesla and Westinghouse argued that high-voltage AC current could be distributed over long distances. Edison countered that AC was dangerous and could lead to electrocution. The spread of electricity transformed transportation. In 1888, Frank Sprague built the first electric trolley system in Richmond, Virginia, using DC current. The New York City subway distributed DC power to its trains via a third rail, and railroad companies began switching from coal to electricity. Westinghouse argued that AC delivered by overhead wires was safer, while DC third rails posed dangers to train workers.

 Thus, the “Battle of the Currents” began.

Kurt Schlichting, Ph.D., is the E. Gerald Corrigan ’63 chair in humanities and social sciences emeritus at Fairfield University. Kurt served as the dean and associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and he is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. His academic research leads the field of historic geographical information system, HGIS, which he used to study the Irish in Newport. He has lectured for the Newport Museum of Irish History and presented at academic conferences in the United States and abroad. Kurt was a visiting fellow at the Moore Research Institute, National University Ireland, Galway.