Thomas Alva Edison (1847–1931) was perhaps the greatest American inventor. He patented 1093 inventions, including such history-making inventions as the incandescent electric bulb, the phonograph, and the first commercial motion pictures.

Born in Milan, Ohio, the youngest of seven children, Edison received only three months of formal education because he hated school. He was home-schooled by his mother and quickly began to read on his own. In 1868, Edison read one of Faraday’s books and found his calling. He moved to Menlo Park, New Jersey, in 1876, where he managed a well-staffed research laboratory. Most of his inventions came out of this laboratory. His laboratory served as a model for modern research organizations. Because of his diverse interests and the overwhelming number of his inventions and patents, Edison began to establish manufacturing companies for making the devices he invented. He designed the first electric power station to supply electric light. Formal electrical engineering education began in the mid-1880s with Edison as a role model and leader.

Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) was a Croatian-American engineer whose inventions— among them the induction motor and the first polyphase ac power system—greatly influenced the settlement of the ac versus dc debate in favor of ac. He was also responsible for the adoption of 60 Hz as the standard for ac power systems in the United States.

Born in Austria-Hungary (now Croatia), to a clergyman, Tesla had an incredible memory and a keen affinity for mathematics. He moved to the United States in 1884 and first worked for Thomas Edison. At that time, the country was in the “battle of the currents” with George Westinghouse (1846–1914) promoting ac and Thomas Edison rigidly leading the dc forces. Tesla left Edison and joined Westinghouse because of his interest in ac. ThroughWestinghouse, Tesla gained the reputation and acceptance of his polyphase ac generation, transmission, and distribution system. He held 700 patents in his lifetime. His other inventions include high-voltage apparatus (the tesla coil) and a wireless transmission system. The unit of magnetic flux density, the tesla, was named in honor of him.