“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” said Thomas Edison, legendary inventor, about his difficulties with inventing the light bulb. In his day, Edison was one of the greatest inventors of all time, inventing things through hard work and determination. But compared to one of his less-renowned scholars, Nikola Tesla, Edison might have been out matched in courage and ingenuity.

Tesla invented technology that ended the need of a coal plant for every square mile. Imagine a world where ugly, fumy, coal generators reside in nearly every neighborhood. Without Tesla, this would be the current situation. But through inventing the Tesla coil, he made possible a new way of taking electricity from plant to building.

This was the alternating current, which benefitted the people and the planet on a huge scale. Through this innovation, Tesla escalated the efficiency of electricity by a massive margin. One of the main advantages was that this form of electricity could be carried for miles without losing much power.

Tesla had a brilliant invention that had the potential to totally change the world. But just because something is incredible, it does not mean that it will be accepted or acknowledged by others. And so began possibly the hardest part of Tesla’s road to success: selling his idea.

Like most real-world situations, Tesla had competition in his field. But unlike the average competition, his main rival was none other than Edison himself who was both his employer and had an incredible reputation. Thus began one of the greatest scientific battles of all time; the war of currents.

During this great debate between two incredible inventors, much was put at stake, especially for Tesla. He had quit his job and was up against the biggest name in the industry, Edison, who did anything and everything to trample over the alternating current idea. Edison even went as far as promoting the electric chair to show the danger of Tesla’s idea!

Tesla took many blows during these wars, but persevered and continued to publicize it. In the end, not only had he beat king and bully of the industry, but also had nearly made Edison go bankrupt, and soon nearly all of Edison’s plants had been replaced by Tesla’s.

After inventing the alternating current, Tesla continued to innovate, making around 300 patents. But unlike any of his other inventions, Tesla would always be known for his alternating current idea that not only succeeded, but helped him to beat the odds in winning the battle against Edison.