Pod Insights American History Tellers Edison vs. Tesla | Work of the World | 2 About this episode In the spring of 1884, a little-known Serbian immigrant named Nikola Tesla arrived in America with little more than a letter of introduction to the most famous inventor in the world – Thomas Edison. Tesla went to work for Edison, impressing his new employer with his intelligence and work ethic. But the two men were too different, too stubborn, and too convinced of their own vision to coexist for long. Tesla would break away, determined to prove that his own approach to electricity – a system run on alternating current – was superior to everything Edison had built.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:00 Lindsay Graham? Audible subscribers can binge new seasons of American History Tellers early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts.
0:19 Lindsay Graham? Imagine it's late November 1886 in Buffalo, New York. You're a local grain trader and you usually work long hours managing your business. It's early evening now and you should be still in your office reviewing the details of your latest shipments. But as darkness fell, you found yourself straining to see your account books in the dim gaslight, so you gave up. Instead, you've joined your friend from the city council to marvel at Buffalo's latest attraction, the newly electrified four-story department store on Main Street. You gape at the dazzling display of electric lights illuminating the inside of the building. Well, now, isn't that something? Sure makes the store look beautiful. I'll say, and not only that, it's a sign of our city's growth. Tells the world that Buffalo is open
1:03 Lindsay Graham? for business, you know. That Mr. Edison certainly is a genius. His lights are astounding. Oh, this isn't Edison's work. You turn to your friend, confused. What do you mean? Well, this may look like Edison, but it's not. In fact, it's better. Better? How's it better? Everyone knows Edison is the genius behind electric lighting. I've heard there are nearly 500 bulbs in that display. Who else could it be? Well, Edison may be a genius, even a wizard, as they say, but the lights you see before you were not manufactured by him. I know this. They are courtesy of George Westinghouse. That tycoon from Pittsburgh? That's the one. It's not just railroads he's invested in. From what I've heard, these lights are part of a much bigger endeavor of his. He's developing
1:45 Lindsay Graham? some new way to generate electricity. They say better than Edison's. No, come on. Edison's been at this a long time. What does Westinghouse know about electricity? Well, more than you think. I've been reading about the system Westinghouse is backing. It's called alternating current. Apparently, it can carry electricity over much greater distances, and it's more efficient. And, you know, as a businessman, I suppose you know what that means. Well, generally, it means it's cheaper. That's right. I'm sure you can see the beauty in that. Well, yeah, maybe, if I got a piece of the pie. Well, I'll let you in on something. Your friend takes your arm and tugs you out to the edge of the bustling crowd. One of Westinghouse's men came by the other day. This demonstration downtown is just the beginning.
2:30 Lindsay Graham? He says they intend to light up whole blocks of the business district, even private homes, warehouses like yours down by the waterfront. Well, I'll be. Is that so? Yeah, he's working up a proposal as we speak. Maybe Westinghouse isn't Edison, but he is a genius businessman, and he's partnering with smart investors who know what they're doing. I'm telling you, Westinghouse and his boys are the future. Well, I suppose there's going to be an economic benefit for us, too. Hmm.
3:01 Lindsay Graham? You turn from your friend and stare back at the department store, its lights casting a golden glow on the crowd all around you. You've never seen such a beautiful sight. Whoever's behind it has a bright future. Maybe you do as well.
3:19 Speaker 01 With the Spark Cash Plus card from Capital One, you earn unlimited 2% cash back on every purchase, and you get big purchasing power, so your business can spend more and earn more. Stephen, Brandon, and Bruno, the business owners of Sand Cloud, reinvested their 2% cash back to help build the company's retail presence. Capital One, what's in your wallet? Find out more at CapitalOne.com/SparkCashPlus. Terms apply.
3:46 Speaker 02 PrizePix packs are here. Rip digital packs and get real basketball, football, and Pokemon cards on PrizePix packs. Available now nationwide. Once you see your pool, you have a choice to sell back instantly for real cash or ship at home. Cash from your sale will immediately be added to your PrizePix balance. It's just another way to run your game. New users, download the PrizePix app today and use code WONDERY to get $25 instantly in bonus packs when you buy your first $5 pack. PrizePix, run your game. 18 plus in eligible areas. Terms apply. Collect responsibly.
4:22 Lindsay Graham? From Audible Originals, I'm Lindsay Graham, and this is American History Tellers. Our history, your story.
4:46 Lindsay Graham? Shortly after Thanksgiving 1886, residents of Buffalo, New York were amazed to see a new and glorious sight downtown: their business district lit up with electric light. Many assumed it was the work of Thomas Edison, the famous inventor who had become synonymous with electrical innovation and technology. But Buffalo's illumination was instead the latest project of George Westinghouse, a prominent industrialist known for his aggressive business style and technological know-how. After Edison introduced his incandescent light in 1879, he and his investors dominated the fast-growing electric market. But competitors soon rushed in, and among them was the hard-charging Westinghouse,
5:28 Lindsay Graham? who founded Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company to begin installing lighting systems to rival Edison's. But still, Westinghouse struggled to catch up. What Westinghouse needed was a technological breakthrough, and it would come from an unlikely source. In 1888, a little-known Serbian immigrant named Nikola Tesla unveiled a revolutionary new design for a system run on a poly-phase alternating current, a method of producing electricity that promised to be cheaper, more efficient, and capable of transmitting electricity over far greater distances. Westinghouse moved quickly to partner with Tesla, betting that together they could bring Tesla's system to commercial scale and challenge Edison's dominance once and for all.
6:10 Lindsay Graham? This is episode 2 of our three-part series Edison vs. Tesla: Work of the World. Nikola Tesla was born on July 10, 1856, in a small village near the Adriatic Sea in what is today Croatia. According to family legend, as his mother labored with him, a vicious thunderstorm raged outside, illuminating the countryside with bright bolts of lightning. The midwife declared, "He'll be a child of the storm." But his mother responded, "No, of light." As soon as he could run, Tesla joined his older brother Dane chasing sheep, geese, and chickens through the family's yard. But it was an encounter with a family cat that first sparked his interest in science.
6:54 Lindsay Graham? While stroking its back one evening, Tesla was stunned to see that its hair stood up in what he described as a sheet of light. Later, he recalled, "My hand produced a shower of sparks loud enough to be heard all over the house." When he asked his father about this mysterious force, his father explained it was electricity, the same phenomenon that lit up the skies during a storm. Fascinated by what he'd seen, Tesla began to read everything he could about electricity and developed a deep interest in engineering and mechanics. But this early sense of wonder was soon overshadowed by tragedy. At just seven years old, Tesla watched in horror as his older brother Dane was trampled and killed by the family's horse.
7:35 Lindsay Graham? Grief-stricken, Tesla's father became depressed and brooding, so Tesla turned to his mother for comfort. She was the creative force in the household, and he often sat with her as she wove intricate patterns and designs with thread and invented tools and devices to help with household chores. Watching her work inspired Tesla and helped to channel his grief and confusion after his brother's death. And while he found comfort with his mother, expectations for his future were already taking shape. Tesla's father and grandfather were both priests in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and it was expected that young Tesla would eventually join the clergy. But as he grew, his interest in science only deepened. In school, Tesla's teachers complimented his intelligence but warned his parents that
8:19 Lindsay Graham? he often strayed from his lessons and neglected his homework. And while he appeared to have a photographic memory, he also demonstrated an extreme sensitivity to sound and light, which was so intense that it often provoked anxiety and visions that haunted him at night. At the age of eighteen, Tesla contracted cholera and was confined to his bed for nine months, at times hovering near death. When he recovered, his parents relented in their expectation that he entered the priesthood and allowed him to take a military scholarship and enroll at a polytechnic university in Graz, Austria. Once there, he delighted in his physics and engineering classes. But even as a young university student, Tesla was not satisfied with learning what had already been discovered.
9:03 Lindsay Graham? He later recalled, "I longed for experiment and investigation." One day in 1877, Tesla entered his physics classroom and saw an oddly shaped machine on the table. It was a new dynamo, or electric generator, invented by the Belgian engineer, Zeno B. Gramm. Gramm's generator was the latest development in European electrical innovation. For years, rudimentary electric motors had run on batteries, which provided only limited power. But Gramm's new dynamo system demonstrated that motors could also be powered by a continuous generator, and this meant that the power source could be located far away from the motor and then connected by wiring, an innovation which opened up the possibility that electricity
9:44 Lindsay Graham? could someday be used more widely, in factories, businesses, and even homes. In his classroom, Tesla watched with fascination as his physics teacher demonstrated Gramm's machine. But he noticed that his teacher had trouble with a part of the machine, called a commutator. Gramm's system, and all others like it, relied on a commutator which was a rotary electrical switch that helped conduct the flow of electricity. But this component frequently broke down and wasted electrical power due to friction. Tesla recognized the inefficiency of the design right away. He didn't yet know how to solve the problem, but it lodged itself in his mind and refused to let go, drawing more and more of his attention as his studies continued.
10:25 Lindsay Graham? By this time, Tesla had grown to be a tall, wire-thin young man with black hair and a taste for fashionable clothing. And initially, he was a diligent and hard-working student, but over time, he developed a fondness for card-playing and gambling at the local cafes. These social distractions began to take a toll on his studies, and he lost his scholarship. Eventually, he was forced to return home, where an even greater hardship awaited. In 1879, when he was 23, his father died. In the aftermath, his mother encouraged him to quit gambling and return to his studies. Tesla vowed to follow her direction, but without his father's support or a scholarship, he had to abandon formal schooling.
11:07 Lindsay Graham? Needing to earn a living, in 1881, he moved to Budapest, Hungary, where he found a job as a draftsman in a telegraph office. The work offered important hands-on experience with the fast-evolving technology of telegraphy, and while working there, Tesla was frequently called on to help design and install new telegraph lines. But in the meantime, Tesla remained fixated on the problem that had first captured his mind at university: how to improve on Zenobram's dynamo. Over time, though, Tesla became increasingly frustrated by his inability to envision a more efficient machine, and his obsession plagued him so intensely that he suffered a nervous breakdown. His sensitivity to light and sound also became debilitating.
11:49 Lindsay Graham? He later reflected, "A carriage passing at a distance of a few miles fairly shook my whole body. The whistle of a locomotive 20 or 30 miles away made the bench or chair on which I sat vibrate so strongly. The pain was unbearable." Doctors couldn't help him, so he retreated to his room, where his mind turned with images of his electric motor design. He became pale and emaciated from lack of sleep, until finally, a concerned friend intervened.
12:20 Lindsay Graham? Imagine it's a cold February afternoon in 1882 in Budapest. You're a student and part-time telegraph worker, and you finally convinced your ailing friend Nikola Tesla to leave his room and take a walk in the city park. You've been worried about his health these past few months, and now, you watch with concern as he shuffles along next to you, his face gaunt and his shoulders hunched. Hey, why don't we, why don't we just take a rest on this bad for a minute? He waves you off. You continue to walk beside him slowly, matching his ambling pace. Okay, but it's still good to see you outside. I don't know how you can stay confined in that tiny room of yours. Well, I've been working. On what? You left the office weeks ago. On my design. Ah, yeah, that electric motor thing.
13:06 Lindsay Graham? You have any sketches of it? Can I see them? Maybe I could help. No, nothing on paper. Well, how are you recording your designs, then? Tesla smiles and points to his head. Don't worry, it's all up here. You can't help but smile too. He's always been an odd character, earnest and sensitive, but you know he's also brilliant. And your shared fascination with electricity has bonded you. But you watch his face as it tightens with tension. I feel this city is assaulting my senses and my mind won't stop whirling. Well, maybe you should take a longer rest, you know, you could go to the seaside. Well, I can't rest, not until I solve this puzzle. The final design eludes me. I think you need to focus on your health, or you won't be around to finish the puzzle or anything else.
13:51 Lindsay Graham? But Tesla doesn't seem to be listening to a word you say, his eyes fixed on the horizon. It is a beautiful evening sky. The glow retreats, done as the day of toil, and yonder hastes new fields of life exploring. You recognize this line of poetry from Goethe's Faust, the German poet is Tesla's favorite. And you're happy that for once it looks like your friend is at peace. But then suddenly he lunges forward. You move to catch him afraid he may be fainting, but instead he grabs a wooden stick from the ground and begins drawing furiously in the dirt at your feet. What are you doing? His eyes are intently focused on the ground. This, this is the design that's been filling my mind for the past weeks. This is my motor here, now watch as I reverse it.
14:37 Lindsay Graham? He flicks his wrist with a flourish and you strained to follow the lines he's furiously tracing in the dirt. Isn't it beautiful, sublime?
14:46 Lindsay Graham? I've solved the problem, now, now I just need to build the motor and give it to the world. I mean, it's entirely new, right? Are you sure it even can be built? Oh, it can be, I'll find a way, don't you see? No more will men be slaves to hard tasks. My motor will set them free, it will do the work of the world.
15:06 Lindsay Graham? You stare down at his drawing, trying to see his vision, but you don't grasp all the details. But maybe that doesn't matter, because one thing is certain, your friend's eyes are blazing with a new sense of passion and purpose.
15:22 Lindsay Graham? In early 1882, while suffering from overwork and exhaustion, Nikola Tesla received an invitation from his friend Anthony Sagetti to take a walk in a nearby park in Budapest. Hoping the fresh air would help him regain his strength, Tesla agreed, and it was there in the park after months of anguish that the detailed design for his improved electric motor came to him in an instant. As Tesla later recalled, he spontaneously recited some of his favorite lines from the German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and: "As I uttered these inspiring words, the idea came like a flash of lightning, and in an instant the truth was revealed. The images I saw were wonderfully sharp and clear." What Tesla had envisioned was a fundamental redesign
16:06 Lindsay Graham? of how a motor could be powered by electricity. Instead of relying on the sparking friction-prone commutators that plagued existing dynamos, his design harnessed a rotating magnetic field to induce electrical current. It was the beginning of what would become a new, more advanced and practical form of generating alternating current. But even with a design fully mapped out in his mind, Tesla had to translate his vision into a functioning machine. With the help of his friend Sagetti, he spent the next few months in Budapest testing and refining the concept. But the experimentation was costly and time-consuming, so to make extra money, Tesla returned to work in telegraphy. By this time, Thomas Edison's enterprise had expanded abroad,
16:50 Lindsay Graham? and Edison's International Division was the leading commercial force in electrical power in Europe. Tesla was soon recruited to work at Edison's headquarters in Paris, and there he impressed his bosses with his understanding of electrical engineering and ability to troubleshoot complex problems. Among those who took note of Tesla's unique intelligence was Edison's trusted assistant, Charles Batchelor. Batchelor thought Tesla was a skillful, yet eccentric engineer, so paid close attention to his work. But while installing and maintaining Edison's power generators, Tesla was struck by their limitations. Unlike alternating current, which periodically reverses direction, Edison's system used direct current, which flowed in just one direction.
17:33 Lindsay Graham? As a result, the power generated by direct current was limited in distance because as the electrical line stretched farther, resistance caused the power to diminish. This meant that whenever a factory or business wanted to use electricity, a new power station needed to be built nearby, within half a mile, which added cost and time to every new installation. But Edison prided himself on direct current safety because it ran on lower voltage than alternating current. But that also meant that extending its range required increasingly thick and expensive copper wiring. Repeatedly, Tesla urged his bosses in the Paris office to consider his proposed modifications to the Grom design, even sharing with them his vision for an improved alternating current model. But his plans, still lacking detail, were dismissed.
18:19 Lindsay Graham? Edison's staff were satisfied that customers already wanted their direct current design. They were consumed with working through the flaws in the existing system to make it even more commercially viable. Meanwhile, Tesla was left to continue to tinker with his AC system on his own in hopes of perfecting it. But as he labored away in Paris, eventually Tesla became convinced that the future of electricity, the innovation, the investment, and the opportunity would be found in America. So in May 1884, with Charles Bachelor's encouragement in a letter of recommendation to work for Edison's US company, Tesla boarded a ship bound for New York. And there, he hoped to tap into the innovation and financial resources to finally make his mark on the world.
19:07 Speaker 03 Confidence. It's listening to your gut. It's moving forward even when the path ahead is unclear. For nearly 160 years, Pacific Life has helped people keep their promises, building confidence for generations. Whether you're confident in your financial future or just beginning to envision it, we're here to help. Ask a financial professional how. Pacific Life, the power of a promise. Pacific Life Insurance Company, Omaha, Nebraska. And in New York, Pacific Life and Annuity, Phoenix, Arizona.
19:38 Speaker 04 If you like YouTube, you'll love YouTube Premium. It's destroying athlete, creator, and YouTube Maxer. YouTube Premium enhances how I use YouTube with awesome features like offline downloads, so I can download my favorite training videos before I hit the gym. So no Wi-Fi doesn't turn leg day into loading day. Plus, I get ad-free videos, background play, and so much more. YouTube Premium is like YouTube got some extra gains. Try YouTube Premium for two months free at youtube.com/premium.
20:07 Speaker 05 Hey, what's up, guys? It's Haley Bailey. Okay, I need to tell you about something. I just got YouTube Premium. It's got tons of awesome features like offline downloads, so I can download my favorite videos before I travel and watch them whenever I don't have Wi-Fi. Because we all know airplane Wi-Fi is the worst. I get ad-free, I get background play, and there's like a ton more in there. You should try it. If you like YouTube, you'll love YouTube Premium. So try YouTube Premium for two months free at youtube.com/premium. Trial eligibility varies. Terms apply. Cancel anytime. That's a mouthful.
20:44 Lindsay Graham? On June 6th, 1884, 27-year-old Nikola Tesla arrived in New York City with just a few cents in his pocket and a small suitcase of belongings. As he made his way from the harbor through the packed streets of Lower Manhattan, he took in the sights and sounds of a city bustling with industry. Workers wheeled heavy carts into warehouses, storefronts advertised their goods, and immigrants from across Europe poured in from the docks, many bound for crowded tenements across the city. As Tesla made his way through these bustling crowds, he took note of the tall wooden posts looming overhead, barely supporting a haphazard network of sagging electrical wires that powered the city's arc lights, telegraph stations, and telephone lines. Tesla, accustomed to the refinement of Europe's great cities, was shocked, commenting,
21:29 Lindsay Graham? "What I saw here was machine, rough, and unattractive. Is this America? It is a century behind Europe in civilization." But despite Tesla's first impression, America was entering a new era of prosperity. The country was emerging from a recent economic panic, and booming industry was creating a new wealthy class whose fortunes were tied to technology and innovation. Tesla hoped his revolutionary design for electric power would find fertile ground in this new economy. So the day after his arrival, Tesla followed the instructions he'd received from Charles Batchelor and made his way to the Edison Electric Light Company headquarters at 65 Fifth Avenue. It was an impressive brownstone with multiple floors, filled with electric chandeliers and lamps.
22:13 Lindsay Graham? There was housing on the top floor for electricians in training, a workshop for new employees, and a laboratory where seasoned staff worked on refining Edison's latest inventions. And thanks to his exemplary work at the Edison Company in Paris, Tesla arrived with a reference from Charles Batchelor. Still, he knew he had to gain the approval of the big boss himself, and it was here at the New York headquarters that he finally met Edison. The contrast between the two men was striking. Tesla was tall and dapper and spoke with a crisp European accent, while Edison, hard of hearing, shuffled through his workshop wearing a shabby coat and chomping on an unlit cigar. Still, Tesla saw the genius in Edison and was grateful for the employment, declaring, "I was thrilled to the marrow by meeting Edison,
22:57 Lindsay Graham? who began my American education right then and there." With Edison's approval, Tesla got to work repairing electrical systems and helping to install new lighting for the company. And almost immediately, he was called to address a crisis too.
23:14 Lindsay Graham? Imagine it's early summer 1884 in New York City. You're a renowned inventor, and you just spent another night in your workshop refining your latest prototype for electrical wiring. You're hoping the improvement will boost sales, which have been weak lately due to competition. As usual, you instructed your assistants to remain with you in the lab to help you run through tests, and you've only allowed them to stop working when you were satisfied with the progress. Now, it's just after dawn, and you're all walking down the block from your Fifth Avenue workshop to get some breakfast. Come on, boys. Fried potatoes and coffee on me. The cigars, though, you'll have to pay for those yourself. As you round the corner, you notice a young man walking towards you. His finely tailored coat fits snugly against his tall, slender shoulders,
23:58 Lindsay Graham? and his black hair is combed neatly. You recognize him as the new electrician recently arrived from Paris. Oh, hello, young man. He stops and bows respectfully. "Good morning, Mr. Edison, gentlemen." "Oh, it's pretty early to be out and about. Already enjoying the New York nightlife, were you?" "Oh, no, sir, I was working." "Is that so?" "Yes, on the SS Oregon, at the docks on the East River. It hasn't been able to leave port because the lighting system on board, the one we installed, had broken down." "Oh, yeah, what a headache. Owner's been calling me nonstop. Any progress?" "Yes, sir, about half an hour ago. We got the two dynamos up and running." You raise your eyebrows, impressed. "How'd you manage that?" "Well, there were several short circuits and breaks. It was a real mess.
24:42 Lindsay Graham? But the crew and I got it up and running, tested all of it, and it passed twice. Ship is departing as we speak." You peer into the man's face and for the first time notice an ease and confidence in his eyes. "Well, boys, it looks like our young Parisian here has proven his worth. Will you join us for breakfast?" "Oh, that's very kind, sir, but I'm headed back to headquarters. I have more to accomplish today, you see. But I was wondering, is there someone I can get to clean and shine my shoes? The work has scuffed them quite badly." You glance down at his fashionable leather brogues, then you lift your gaze back to his face. "Well, yes, there is. In fact, I'm looking at them." "Oh, I'm sorry, pardon me?" "Young man, you're in America now. Here, we shine our own shoes, and we like it."
25:28 Lindsay Graham? You turn and join your assistants to head toward the café. But you glance over your shoulder to watch the young man leave. "He's a strange character, you think, but certainly talented. You plan to keep an eye on him."
25:43 Lindsay Graham? Soon after his arrival in New York, Tesla impressed Edison when he successfully fixed a damaged electrical system on the ship SS Oregon. Edison, in turn, gave Tesla some blunt advice when the new arrival asked about finding someone to shine his shoes. At first taken aback, Tesla then resolved to follow the advice of the veteran inventor, later recalling, "He impressed me tremendously. I shined my shoes, and I liked it." During the summer of 1884, Tesla continued to work for Edison, and despite growing competition, business was brisk. Edison's crews lit up the New York Stock Exchange, the New Haven Steamboat Company offices, and other prominent businesses on Wall Street. But Tesla continued to be frustrated with the limitations of direct current,
26:27 Lindsay Graham? including the fact that Edison's stations could only provide electricity a half mile in any direction. By the end of the summer, despite Edison's dominance, his company had only managed to install eighteen power stations in the entire country, and most of them served only densely populated areas, leaving small rural towns completely in the dark. Tesla was convinced his AC system could deliver electricity more efficiently over greater distance and to far more people. So as the months wore on, Tesla continued to refine his designs, eventually gathering the courage to present his idea to Edison. But Edison dismissed him. Tesla recalled that Edison responded very bluntly that he was not interested in alternating current, and he went even further, saying that
27:12 Lindsay Graham? "There was no future to it, and anyone who dabbled in that field was wasting his time. And besides, it was a deadly current, whereas direct current was safe." Tesla was stung by the rejection and felt that he was being misunderstood. Edison justified his commitment to his direct current system by pointing to the dangers of alternating current systems already in use, including the high-voltage AC wires that powered the bright arc lights in Manhattan. Edison cited incidents where workers had been shocked and even killed from accidental contact with AC power. In contrast, Edison proudly pointed out that DC was a low-voltage system, and if a person touched the wires or bulbs, or even the power source itself, they were unlikely to be seriously hurt. But Tesla vowed not to give up,
27:56 Lindsay Graham? convinced that his improvements to the alternating current system would be revolutionary. Still, he realized that he lacked the resources to prove it. So he continued to work for Edison's company, spurred on partly by the promise of a big bonus from his managers for a successful completion of a big project. But when he tried to claim the bonus, he was told it had merely been a joke and that he didn't understand American humor. Tesla was outraged by what he felt was unfair treatment. Once a firm believer in Edison, Tesla began to sour on the inventor's methods, considering his discoveries more luck than careful inquiry. Tesla declared, "His method was inefficient to the extreme, for an immense ground had to be covered to get anything at all unless blind chance intervened.
28:39 Lindsay Graham? Theory and calculation would have saved him ninety percent of his labor." In turn, Edison regarded Tesla as a dandy who had his head in the clouds. To Edison, Tesla was a poet of science rather than a working inventor. His ideas were magnificent but utterly impractical. So as the tensions rose, and in December 1884, after six months of working for Edison, Tesla quit. He was eager to devote his energies to his own experiments, and he was determined to prove Edison and all other established scientific leaders wrong. But he realized that he would need a working prototype of his AC motor in order to generate interest. But without a job, he also needed to earn money. So he took a page from Edison's American-style practicality and began working to solve a
29:23 Lindsay Graham? marketable problem: developing a better arc lighting system, one that addressed the flickering and noise that had made existing models so unpopular. By March 1885, Tesla had a working model, and recognizing the need for control of his inventions, he met with an attorney to file a patent. With the help of this attorney, he also found two New Jersey businessmen willing to serve as investors, and together they created the Tesla Electric Light and Manufacturing Company. Tesla received his first patents in the spring of 1886 for an improved arc light and components for a DC generator. Then he secured a contract with the city of Raway, New Jersey, to install his new arc lights. This venture appeared to be succeeding.
30:04 Lindsay Graham? The public found the softer glow of Tesla's arc lights more attractive, and city officials liked that they were more reliable and cheaper to run than previous systems. It seemed that Tesla had a proven and marketable invention. But when Tesla pushed his investors to look beyond arc lights toward his AC motor, they had no interest. Once the Raway installation was complete, they simply reorganized the business to suit themselves, cutting Tesla out of the process and taking ownership of the patents he had handed over in exchange for shares that turned out to be worthless. Suddenly Nikola Tesla was again jobless and broke. He had been in America for two years and despite demonstrating a knack for innovation and hard work, he had little to show for his efforts.
30:46 Lindsay Graham? And soon, his dream of a new electrical system would be pushed even further out of reach by a national crisis.
30:58 Speaker 02 They're running a cover two defense. But you're running to get game day deals on Uber Eats. Keep everyone at tonight's watch party fed with deals from your go-to restaurants. Or stock up with deals on your favorite snacks and groceries. Whatever the occasion, get game day deals on Uber Eats all season long. It's not football without food. Uber Eats, order now. Terms apply. Product availability varies by region. See app for details.
31:28 Speaker 06 You stepped out for your morning jog. Except it's not your usual morning jog. You started listening to an epic sci-fi book on Audible. Thirty chapters later, you've accidentally run a half marathon. You lost track of how far you've run, somewhere just past the city limits. You can't stop. You have to find out what happens next. Then it's over. The universe seems bigger. You feel different. You feel like you have no idea where you are. Audible, stories that speak to you.
32:04 Lindsay Graham? In the spring of 1886, as a booming economy created a widening gulf between rich and poor, tensions between unions and industry leaders erupted into violent clashes. When workers from the Union Pacific Railroad tried to join labor unions, railroad owners responded with force, igniting a wave of violence across five states and prompting state militias to be called out in Missouri and Texas. In New York City, more than 15,000 striking streetcar drivers clashed with police as they fought for a shorter workday and a minimum wage. Then, on May 4th, 1886, a deadly bombing and police shooting at a labor protest at Chicago's Haymarket Square killed more than 10 people and injured dozens of others, spreading panic across the nation.
32:49 Lindsay Graham? This labor unrest soon spread to the country's fast-growing electrical industry as well. When eighty workers at Thomas Edison's New Jersey Lamp Factory formed a union to call for better conditions, Edison responded angrily and tried to fire one of them. When other workers objected, he designed thirty machines to automate their work and then promptly fired them as well. This unrest spreading across American industry pointed to a hard truth: in this new economy, even skilled labor offered no guarantee of security. Nikola Tesla, who had left Edison's company two years before, knew this better than most. Stripped of his patents and pushed out of his company, the talented electrical engineer found himself wandering New York, unable to find steady work.
33:34 Lindsay Graham? Tesla recalled, "There were many days when I did not know where my next meal was coming from. I was never afraid to work." Despite his education in physics and math, Tesla turned to manual labor. And once, when he approached a ditch-digging crew for work, the foreman looked skeptically at his wiry frame and neatly tailored suit, laughing him off. In response, Tesla grabbed a shovel and jumped into the canal to join the digging crew. Impressed, the foreman relented, and Tesla kept digging until he earned his wage for the day. Still, ditch digging could only carry him so far. By the spring of 1887, Tesla was growing frustrated. The low pay and rigor of manual labor meant that he didn't have time or resources to further experiment with his alternating current system.
34:19 Lindsay Graham? But finally Tesla got a break when a labor crew foreman took note of his engineering skills and introduced him to a friend at the Western Union Telegraph Company. This friend was immediately impressed with Tesla's knowledge of electricity and brought him to an influential lawyer and investor named Charles F. Peck. Peck listened to the young inventor's description of his new electrical system that promised to beat out the competition currently on the market. Intrigued, Peck set up a meeting with potential investors to gauge their interest. After months of backbreaking labor, Tesla knew this was a big opportunity, so he came up with an attention-getting trick. In the meeting, he promised he could make an egg stand on its end using only the power of electricity.
35:01 Lindsay Graham? Sufficiently intrigued, the potential investors agreed to come back the following day. Tesla then got a blacksmith to coat a hard-boiled egg with copper and installed a device that generated a rotating magnetic field on the underside of a wooden table. When the investors returned, they walked in astonished as the egg stood upright on its pointed end and began spinning rapidly in place, held there by some invisible force. This visual demonstration made the abstract science of Tesla's AC motor easier to grasp, and impressed by the inventor's creativity, the men agreed to fund the development of his new AC power system. With this funding and the help of Charles Peck, Tesla set up the Tesla Electric Company at 89 Liberty Street in Manhattan.
35:46 Lindsay Graham? There at last, he could devote all his time to refining his AC system. But after losing everything to unscrupulous partners once before, Tesla decided this time he needed help from someone he trusted. So he wrote to his old friend Anthony Sagetti, who years earlier had taken him to the Budapest Park where he had his epiphany about an alternating current system. He urged Sagetti to join him in New York to help turn that dream into a reality. And when Sagetti arrived in May 1887, the two friends got to work, spending long nights in Tesla's Liberty Street lab, refining his AC motor and pushing his dream of a new electrical system closer to fruition. Soon, word spread about Tesla's innovative experiments and caught the attention of Thomas
36:30 Lindsay Graham? Martin, editor of the influential magazine Electrical World. Martin visited Tesla in his Liberty Street lab, where he was shocked by what he saw. There Tesla had created a fully functioning AC power system, complete with a generator, an induction motor, and a transformer designed to step up or down the intensity of the power running through the wires. This last innovation was key, because it meant that AC power could travel long distances by being stepped up in voltage, and then transformed down to a lower voltage to be used safely inside private homes or businesses, a distinct advantage over Edison's direct current system. Recognizing the innovation at once, Martin then called in a well-respected electrical expert from Cornell University to review Tesla's work.
37:14 Lindsay Graham? This expert was also immediately struck by the innovation, and wrote to a friend that Tesla had produced a wonderful result by creating a faster, more efficient, and more powerful AC system with a design that had never been seen before. He and Martin both urged Tesla to go public with his invention, but still stung by the betrayal of his earlier business partners, Tesla held back until his patent applications were approved. Only then did he agree to step into the spotlight.
37:45 Lindsay Graham? Imagine it's May 16, 1888, at Columbia College in New York. You're an electrical engineer and inventor, and you're here today to see a special presentation from a fellow innovator, Nikola Tesla. For weeks, word has been circulating that he's made a significant breakthrough in alternating current, when extraordinary claims are common in this field, and you've learned to be skeptical. Tesla, wearing a dark suit, confidently takes the stage to begin his presentation. On the table next to him sits a prototype of his new alternating current motor. And as he gives his remarks, you scan the crowd around you in the small auditorium, nodding to a few familiar faces. It looks like almost all of New York's most influential electric innovators are here. And when Tesla finishes his presentation,
38:30 Lindsay Graham? you stand up and raise your hand to indicate you wish to speak. All right, you in the front, would you like to say something? Uh, yes. Thank you for this presentation. It is impressive, but I fail to see anything new here. Tesla fixes his gaze on you. I appreciate your opinion, sir, but I assure you, this system of producing and distributing electrical power by means of alternating current is in fact entirely novel. You turn around to address your fellow attendees. Yes, but, but gentlemen, as many of you know, I too have been experimenting with alternating current. I share Mr. Tesla's enthusiasm for the technology, and I endorse its promise. My alternating current motor is much like the one you see before you on this stage.
39:13 Lindsay Graham? So you see, it's anything but a groundbreaking advance, as was promised. You turn back to the front of the room and notice Tesla's eyes narrowing. Thank you for your enthusiasm. It is indeed, I suppose, a passion we share. But correct me if I'm mistaken, doesn't your motor use a single alternating current? Yes. Mine does not. Instead, I use multiple currents, and they are out of sync. Oh, to what purpose? It ensures that there is always a constant supply of power. One picks up when the other is down, making the current strong and steady. And what do you call this out-of-sync system? A poly-phase alternating current. Well, I, I, and tell me, sir, does your motor use a commutator? Of course, all models do. Not this one.
39:57 Lindsay Graham? And as you know, the use of the commutator has been an obstacle for years. The brushes wear down, and friction makes the generation of electricity inefficient. I know many of you here have spent long hours repairing this flawed component, but my model has no need for a commutator. Ah, that's impossible. It was impossible, sir, it was. Not anymore. But how do you propel the electricity forward? By what mechanism? Magnetic fields.
40:25 Lindsay Graham? By this point, the entire room is wrapt with attention. You can see the crowd around you is abuzz, so slowly, you sit back down, your face flushed, as your eyes settle on the spinning motor on the stage. It galls you to admit, but if what Nikola Tesla says is true, you've never seen anything like it.
40:46 Lindsay Graham? Despite initial criticism and disbelief, Tesla's demonstration at Columbia College was a sensation. His introduction of poly-phase alternating currents sent shockwaves through the electrical community. He followed it up with an article in Thomas Martin's Journal outlining his new system in detail. He described how his poly-phase motor sent multiple currents coursing through the machine like propelling waves. The waves moved so quickly, the effect was a steady, seamless, and powerful electric current. Observers called it wondrous and elegant. And it wasn't long before the publicity around Tesla's breakthrough drew the attention of one of the most prominent businessmen in the country, George Westinghouse. Based in Pittsburgh, Westinghouse had made a fortune inventing technologies for the railroad
41:31 Lindsay Graham? industry, most notably a compressed air braking system that for the first time allowed a train engineer to stop every car simultaneously. But by the mid 1880s, his ambitions had expanded well beyond the railroads. And unlike most business tycoons, he had a hands-on approach. He ran his own laboratory and workshop and got his hands dirty with technical problems. He'd also been quietly building an electrical manufacturing empire to rival Edison's. So when Westinghouse learned the details of Tesla's new innovation, he immediately understood its revolutionary potential. Westinghouse had been tinkering with alternating current for several years, and he had secured several lucrative contracts to supply the power for municipal lighting, including one to power Buffalo's downtown business district.
42:16 Lindsay Graham? But like many, he was frustrated by the technology's limitations. He saw Tesla's new design as the key to unleashing the full potential of AC. So keen to partner with Tesla, Westinghouse sent his top engineers to visit his Liberty Street lab in New York. After they verified that Tesla's machine worked the way he claimed, Westinghouse offered Tesla a large cash payment and guaranteed future royalties in exchange for his patents. Realizing that Westinghouse could offer the financial backing he had long craved, Tesla accepted, not only for the money, but because he recognized in Westinghouse exactly the kind of ally he would need for the battle ahead. According to Tesla, there was no fiercer adversary than Westinghouse when locked in a fight.
42:59 Lindsay Graham? So in July 1888, just two months after unveiling his electrical system at Columbia College, Tesla boarded one of Westinghouse's private railcars and made the 10-hour journey to Pittsburgh. There, he met with Westinghouse and his powerful team of engineers, and together, they began planning how to bring Tesla's revolutionary AC system to the world, confident that it was a technology that would shake the foundations of Thomas Edison's electrical empire. From Audible Originals, this is episode two of our three-part series Edison vs. Tesla for American History Tellers. In the next episode, Westinghouse and Tesla threatened Thomas Edison's grip on the electrical market, leading Edison to launch a ruthless campaign to destroy the reputation of alternating
43:44 Lindsay Graham? current.
43:48 Lindsay Graham? American History Tellers is only possible because of listeners like you, so thank you. And don't miss an episode. Be sure to follow American History Tellers on Audible or wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can binge new seasons of American History Tellers early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts. And to find out more about me, including my other podcasts, my live show, the history tours I'm arranging, and all sorts of other things, go to historyishuman.com. That's historyishuman.com.
44:24 Lindsay Graham? If you'd like to learn more, we recommend Tesla: Invention of the Electrical Age by W. Bernard Carlson and Empires of Light by Jill Jones. American History Tellers is hosted, edited, and produced by me, Lindsay Graham, for Airship. This episode is written by Dorian Marina. Senior producers Alida Razansky and Andy Beckerman. Managing producer Desi Blalock. Audio editing by Mohamed Shazib. Music by Thrum. Sound design by Molly Bach. Executive producer for Audible Jenny Lauer Beckman. Head of creative development at Audible Kate Nevin. Head of Audible Originals North America Marshall Louis. Chief content officer Rachel Gianns. Copyright 2026 by Audible Originals LLC. Sound recording copyright 2026 by Audible Originals LLC.
45:17 Speaker 07 I'm Gemma Whelan, and in the new season of The Spy Who, we tell the story of the original femme fatale, the spy who was Mata Hari. A famous dancer turned World War I secret agent, accused of seducing Allied officers to uncover their plans. But was she a temptress or a scapegoat for French failures? Follow The Spy Who now, wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also listen to the full season of The Spy Who Was Mata Hari, early and ad-free on Audible.
Previous Edison vs. Tesla | Prometheus’ Fire | 1 Next Edison vs. Tesla | Triumph of Illumination | 3 Page updated October 30, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated