Abstract :
It often appears that everything that could be written has been written with regard to the 1890s competition between alternating current (ac) and direct current (dc) electric power systems. Much is inaccurate and, unfortunately, is repeated ad infinitum. One factor that all writers, both popular and scholarly, overlook is that the issue was not resolved in a single event nor was it immediate. The ac systems that ultimately prevailed required decades of research and development prior to universal application.
