5. Appendices

5.1 The war of currents

At the end of the nineteenth century, two schools of thought clashed over the production and distribution of electricity: the advocates of direct current, led by Thomas Edison, on the one hand, and the supporters of alternating current, backed by Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse, on the other. The battle was fierce, as the financial stakes were high, and the alternative won out. Today, in the twenty-first century, direct current is enjoying a certain revival, particularly in ultra-high voltage. Edison had campaigned against the dangers of alternating current. He even convinced the New York penitentiary authorities to use alternating current to power the electric chair used to execute a death row inmate, William Kemmler. As the execution did not go well,...