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Lots of people know Thomas Edison as the father of the modern light bulb. But do you know how electricity gets to your light bulb?Well, back in the late 1880's, there was a so-called "current war" fought in order to decide exactly what kind of system would become the standard means of piping electricity from one place to another.
Along with holding patents on a whole bunch of other stuff, Thomas Edison also held a patent on a system of distributing electricity utilizing DC or Direct Current.
George Westinghouse, his adversary in the struggle for electricity distribution supremacy, advocated a system that used AC or Alternating Current.
Edison stood to make LOTS of money by getting his DC system to become the standard means of distributing electricity. So, in an attempt to turn the public against AC, Edison began an intense propaganda campaign that insisted that AC was far more dangerous than DC. And, to demonstrate this point, he used AC electricity at public demonstrations to electrocute cats and dogs to death. His animal executions culminated in the public execution of Topsy the elephant in 1903. I'm not making this up.
Oh, here's another thing. During the campaign against AC, Edison also secretly funded the development of the world's first electric chair, which naturally led to the world's first execution via electrocution - using AC current of course. So, in a way, I guess you could say that Thomas Edison is not only the father of the modern light bulb, he's also the father of modern capital punishment.
Oh, by the way, AC eventually won out over DC; the light bulbs in your home, they run on AC current.
<end transcript>
This is a rush transcript provided for the information and convenience of the press. Accuracy is not guaranteed. Please contact The Pinky Show < 
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Credits: Thomas Edison Hates Cats > if you have any questions regarding permissions or terms of use.| episode number: | 070117-01 |
| release date: | January 17, 2007 |
| writing: | Pinky |
| research: | Pinky |
| bibliography: |
 |
Executioner's Current: Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and the Invention of the Electric Chair. Richard Moran. Random House (Alfred A. Knopf), 2002. The Electric Chair: An Unnatural American History. Craig Brandon. McFarland & Company, 1999. |
| narration: | Pinky |
| video: | light bulb by Pinky (switch) & Bunny (camera) |
| music: | - |
| sound effects: | - |
| drawings & illustrations: | Pinky |
| titles: | Pinky |
| photo credits: |
|
 Film by Thomas Edison, Electrocuting an Elephant, documenting the electrocution of Topsy the Elephant (1903). < http://www.23nlpeople.com/media/~elephant_dead.mpg >  Photo: Thomas Edison. Image from the National Archives.  Photo: Thomas Edison. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_edison >  Portrait (photo-based?) of George Westinghouse. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Westinghouse >  Photo of an Edison Power Plant; photograph courtesy of Jim Rees; licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial Share Alike 2.5. < http://jim.rees.org/trips/mi-01-07.html >  Photo: the electric chair used to carry out the first execution by electrocution. < http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov >  The drawing of the elephant is by Pinky; the photographs were taken by either Pinky or Bunny (we can't remember). |
If any one finds that any of the above information is incorrect, please let me know by sending me an email.
Thank you!
~pinky
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