Alternating current - Nikola Tesla

One of the most important inventions of the XIX century is certainly the alternating current system. Namely, to the Tesla's invention of AC, the Edison concept of direct current was largely used. Tesla has proved that alternating current allows mass production and distribution of electricity over long distances and is as safe as Edison's DC. In this way, the alternating current has become the basis of modern power systems.

Tesla's multi-phase electric current system and its electric lighting were presented by Westinghouse at the World Exhibit in Chicago in 1893. The same company proposed the Tesla's Niagara watercourse power currents system. The hydroelectric power plant was completed in 1896 and supplied with electric power about 40 miles away Buffalo City. At the same time, hundreds of small DC power plants were deployed in New York, as DC could only be transmitted to a distance of up to 3 kilometres due to large loss of energy. 

The alternating current has also enabled the development of a variety of other technologies: frequency oscillations allow wireless transmission of information, radio and television. All these patents of AC power are used unchanged, even today, in 90% of world electricity production.