Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) worked for Edison’s company in Europe. Edison offered Tesla a large sum of money if he would invent an improved generator. When Tesla did, Edison refused to pay, saying he had been joking. Tesla quit.

In 1884 George Westinghouse (1846-1914), a prolific American inventor and businessman, formed the Westinghouse Electric Company in 1884. Four years later he persuaded Tesla to join his company and purchased his patents from him. Westing-house had improved a transformer invented in France, but Tesla’s AC induction motor, invented in 1883, and three-phase generator were essential for Westinghouse’s dream of transmitting electric energy efficiently over long distances.