Alternating Current
When President Cleveland turned on those lights at the Opening Ceremony, he wasn’t just showing a sparkling, illuminated world to fairgoers. He was using alternating current technology developed by Nikola Tesla and presented by the Westinghouse Company. Electricity for the everyday person was in its infancy in 1893. Tesla and Thomas Edison competed for dominance in the electricity market and understood the marketing potential of the 1893 World’s Fair. They both bid on the opportunity to use electricity to light its buildings and walkway. Tesla and Westinghouse, who purchased Tesla’s patents, won the bid with his Alternating Current (A/C) system, where the voltage switches between positive and negative and changes directions, unlike competitor Thomas Edison’s Direct Current (D/C), where the voltage only flows in one direction. Tesla’s system became the basis of the modern power grid.