Zap! Nikola Tesla Takes Charge

In 1884, Croatian Nikola Tesla arrived in New York with a letter of introduction to Thomas Edison. Upon meeting, Edison sent Tesla to fix the SS Oregon as a test and was so astounded that he offered Tesla a job at his factory. Tesla and Edison had different views about electricity; Tesla wanted to develop an alternate current while Edison wanted to stick to the direct current system. Mistreated by Edison, he quit and met George Westinghouse, who also thought that alternating current was the way to light up America. He gave Tesla a job and in 1896 they built a generator at Niagara Falls that sent power as far as Buffalo, New York.