Tesla's Collaboration with George Westinghouse

In 1888, Tesla delivered his first large public lecture about the benefits that alternating current could bring to the world. George Westinghouse was in favour of his proposed alternating current system and needed the technology that Tesla was able to develop. The two reached an agreement in the summer of that same year and began to manufacture Tesla-based motors on a large scale.

By May 1893, Tesla and Westinghouse had propelled the arguments of alternating current over direct current far enough that it was their technology that was chosen to light up 100,000 lightbulbs at the Chicago World’s Fair. Between 27 and 28 million people—roughly up to 20% of the population of the United States—came to see the “City of Light” that spring season. The event proved, without a doubt, that alternating current technology was safe and efficient. Winning the contract for the 1893 World’s Fair secured the future of alternating current and Westinghouse and Tesla cemented their legacy in the next stage of electrical transmission development.