In the final decades of the nineteenth century, three brilliant and visionary titans of America's Gilded Age-Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, and George Westinghouse-battled as each vied to create a vast and powerful electrical empire. In Empires of Light, historian Jill Jonnes portrays this extraordinary trio and their riveting and ruthless world of cutting-edge science, invention, intrigue, money, death, and hard-eyed Wall Street millionaires. At the...

Explore the exciting history of electricity from static electricity through Leyden jars, batteries, lightbulbs, solar, and wind power! Readers will learn about the amazing scientists, inventors, and innovators throughout history whose work shaped the research and development of electricity. Table of contents, diagram, fun facts, a glossary, and an index are included.

Presents the life and accomplishments of the Croatian-born engineer who developed alternating-current technology and invented the radio.

"Electricity is the lifeblood of contemporary society. But the bright, modern-day world lit up by coal, natural gas, nuclear power, and renewable energy sources is a relatively new phenomenon. From the time prehistoric people lived in caves until little more than a century ago, the world was dark at night. People lit wood fires and burned candles made from animal or vegetable fat. The incandescent light bulb invented by Thomas Edison did more than...