Contested Currents
The Race to Electrify America

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.

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:

1. Should scientists and engineers promote their ideas and inventions?

2. Should they promote their ideas by discrediting others?

3. Is the “progress” of science always positive?