Truths and false beliefs about early electrification in Europe and North America
Abstract
This paper describes the early development of electrification in Europe and North America. The general electrification of the world has been made possible owing to many known and unknown inventors, technicians, engineers and scientists. Rarely is there only one inventor of any technical invention. General electrification occured only at the end of the 19th century when three-phase AC transmission systems were developed, and this system was reached through the DC system and the single-phase AC transmission system. It was a great undertaking for which the inventors were undoubtedly responsible, but even more so the financiers and industrialists who founded the first electrical companies. However, we should not forget the important role of companies that financed the construction of single-phase, two-phase and three-phase AC power plants and AC transmission systems, primarily for the purpose of powering their factories. Two-phase AC transmission systems were only a just a bad attempt to find the optimal multiphase AC transmission system. No matter how strange it may seem, too little is known about the early electrification and there are many false beliefs about it, among them the false belief that Nikola Tesla was the only inventor of alternating current and the main creator of general electrification. There is also a widespread false belief that HPP Krka (Jaruga 1) was a two-phase AC power plant even it was a single-phase AC power plant. Many are convinced that the Adams hydroelectric power plant built at Niagara Falls was a three-phase AC power plant even it was a two-phase AC power plant.
Slavko Vujević
Professor Emeritus
An expert in electrical engineering, particularly known for his contributions to numerical modeling of electromagnetic phenomena, lightning protection, and grounding. Throughout his career, he was a key member of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Naval Architecture in Split, where he taught, mentored students, and actively participated in scientific research and international professional organizations.