The world is today at equilibrium. Battery operated devices use DC current and the misc household and industrial appliances use AC current

But almost 140 years ago, that was not the case. A fierce battle was fought between two scientists Tesla and Edison over it. #CBG_Thread 1/n

Thomas Edison, a prolific inventor, changed the course of history with the invention of electric bulb in 1870s. It opened up a new market hitherto unknown. 2/n
Edison , backed by J P Morgan, founded a new company Edison General Electric ( now GE) to make motors, appliances, wires etc to develop and service this new market. 3/n
Interestingly, all appliances were based on Direct Current (DC) - similar to what you get from batteries these days. Current flows in one direction only, unlike Alternating Current (AC) - such as 220V supply at home these days. 4/n
Nikola Tesla immigrated to US in 1884 to work for Edison as Electric Engineer for a salary of $100. Tesla was a maverick with novel ideas. He wanted to create an efficient arc lighting and AC motor. Edison however was too arrogant to be receptive to any ideas. 5/n
Eventually Tesla left Edison in 6 months and perfected his AC system. George Westinghouse, Edison's rich rival, bought his patents and backed him for creating this more effecient AC polyphase system. 6/n
DC suffers from higher transmission losses over long distances. In AC, current flows only shallowly over the surface of wire due to a phenomenon called skin effect leading to lesser loss in transmiting power. 7/n
Upset with Tesla's success, Edison teamed up with Harold Brown, inventor of Electric Chair. They argued that body can tolerate even 1000V DC but even 300V AC is lethal. They publicly electrocuted a dog in Brown's Electric Chair with AC current leading to bad press for AC 8/n
Tesla and Westinghouse got their big break when they illuminated the entire Chicago World Fair in 1893.

The dazzling display left everyone bewitched. 8/n
This was followed by their win to create the first hydro electric power plant at Niagra in 1895. This win pretty much settled the war in favour of AC transmission systems. With that Tesla and Westinghouse had won a bitterly fought battle. 9/n
This fascinating story is also captured in a 2017 Hollywood movie, Current War.
10/n
Eventually, Edison's own company adopted the AC current system and Edison sold all his shares of Edison General Electric which then became GE. Tesla certainly won this war, fair and square. n/n

More from History

Folks who don't know history just tweet whatever they want.

On Feb 1935, Bose attacked the Nazis as he was angry as Indians were described as Sub-Humans in Mein Kampf. The British arrested Bose in April 1936, because he insulted the Nazis.

#Thread


The West at this point had a soft spot for the Nazis. France, Great Britain, Netherlands, Poland all gave the Nazi Salute during the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.

Even during the Spanish Civil War (1936 - 1939), the Western powers observed neutrality as the Fascists rose in Spain.


In 1937, Hitler told British Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax that one of his fav movies was ‘The Lives of a Bengal Lancer’. Why?

‘The Lives of a Bengal Lancer’ depicted a handful of "superior race" Brits holding sway over an entire Indian subcontinent (Sub-Humans).

"Shoot Gandhi. If necessary, shoot more Congress Leaders (Nehru & Bose)."

- Hitler to Lord Halifax, Britain's Foreign Secretary

This statement by Hitler in 1937 angered many pro-Leftist leaders of the INC including Bose.

Bose reached London in Jan 1938, and he met many leaders of the British Labour Party including Attlee.

1938 & 1939 were two huge years for the Indian National Congress. As i always say, the 10-year phase from 1938 - 1948 shaped modern India and it began in 1938 Haripura session.

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I’ve always felt that the luckiest people I know had a talent for recognizing circumstances, not of their own making, that were conducive to a favorable outcome and their ability to quickly take advantage of them.

In other words, dumb luck was just that, it required no awareness on the person’s part, whereas “smart” luck involved awareness followed by action before the circumstances changed.

So, was I “lucky” to be born when I was—nothing I had any control over—and that I came of age just as huge databases and computers were advancing to the point where I could use those tools to write “What Works on Wall Street?” Absolutely.

Was I lucky to start my stock market investments near the peak of interest rates which allowed me to spend the majority of my adult life in a falling rate environment? Yup.