Pioneers

George Westinghouse

United States

Citation Formats

General Reference

Energy Atlas. "George Westinghouse." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-energy.interactiveatlas.org/pioneers/george-westinghouse.

APA Style

Energy Atlas. (n.d.). George Westinghouse. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-energy.interactiveatlas.org/pioneers/george-westinghouse

BibTeX

@misc{energyatlas-george-westinghouse,
  author = {Energy Atlas},
  title = {George Westinghouse},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-energy.interactiveatlas.org/pioneers/george-westinghouse},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

The American industrialist who bet on alternating current when Edison called it deadly, bought the Tesla patents, and built the company that electrified America on AC. His plants lit the 1893 Chicago World Fair and harnessed Niagara Falls in 1895, the victories that settled the war of currents.

Facts

Birth Date

1846-10-06 1

Birth Year

1846 1

Death Date

1914-03-12 1

Death Year

1914 1

Nationality

American 1

Defining Contribution

Commercialization of the alternating current power system 1

Cross-Tradition Connections

Milestones Credited

Niagara Falls AC Power

The Adams plant ran Westinghouse machinery built on the Tesla polyphase patents.

Source Encyclopedia Britannica

Technologies Developed

Electrical Transformer

Westinghouse commercialized the transformer in America on the ZBD and Gaulard-Gibbs work, with William Stanley as his engineer.

Source Encyclopedia Britannica

Sources

1. Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.View the Source

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