Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse
Tesla was everything Edison wasn’t: introverted, a deep thinker, obsessed with neatness and manners, careful and exact. He worked for Edison for six months and made significant improvements to Edison’s motors and generators. But by 1885 a lack of recognition from the big boss caused Tesla to leave and to try his luck and brilliance through a company of his own. It failed, and he struggled financially for several months. During this time he submitted several notable patents:
But it was his submissions on May 1st 1888 (for the Electro-magnetic motor and for the System Of Electrical Distribution) that finally convinced George Westinghouse to make Tesla an offer for this novel power distribution system which could cover hundreds of miles of transmission. That July, Westinghouse offered $75,000 for his patent (around $2.7 million in today’s money) and offered $2.50 for every horsepower his motors would generate. Armed with financial power, this maverick designed and planned to build an entire electrical system around the basis of alternating current and the alternating electric motor.
Source: Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity. Episode 2, "The Age of Invention." Presented by Jim Al-Khalili. BBC Four, 2011.
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Full disclosure, I may occasionally borrow a sentence from Will Durant's Story of Civilization. I absolutely love that collection!