Contested
Currents![](../images/right-arrow.gif)
The Race to Electrify America
![](../images/index.8.jpg) By 1889, Westinghouse's AC networks were winning market share
and Edison
saw his last opportunity to defeat his rival. Edison
hired an outside engineer named Harold
P. Brown, who pretended to be impartial, but performed
public animal electrocutions with AC power.
!["Probably the most famous American electric chair—Old Sparky from Sing-Sing Prison."](../images/Wiki%20images/Singchair-small.jpg) In
1887, Edison told the state board that AC was so deadly that
it would kill instantly, making it the ideal method of execution.
His prestige was so great that his recommendation was adopted. In
August 1890, a convict named William
Kemmler became the first person to be executed
by electrocution. The execution was messy and protracted, and Westinghouse
protested that they could have done better with an axe.
Edison promoted the idea of AC electrocution, calling the new procedure "Westinghousing" which
failed.
DICUSSION QUESTIONS:
-
Should
scientists and engineers promote their ideas and inventions?
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Should
they promote their ideas by discrediting others?
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Is
the “progress” of science always positive?
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