“The Time of the 80s” [History]

One of the most memorable history memories I have of the electric power industry was listening to Charlie Ruch, a corporate historian for Westinghouse Electric Corporation in the 1980s. His presentation at an IAS conference was titled “The Time of the 80s,” but he was not talking about the 1980s but the 1880s. He came dressed the part with mutton chop sideburns and a suit styled after what businessmen wore in the 1880s. He looked like George Westinghouse. His presentation was about the very early history of electric power and included pictures of the first generators at Niagara Falls. George Westinghouse was promoting ac power, and Thomas Edison was promoting dc power. Weekly, there were articles in various newspapers discussing the aspects of both. It was a very controversial issue with professors going around giving demonstrations where they electrocuted chickens on stage, trying to prove that electricity was dangerous, ac was more dangerous than dc, etc. Needless to say, it carried on for many years in a very heated way—until ac was employed to light the World’s Fair in Chicago, IL, USA, in 1893, where visiting people from all over the world decided that they were going to utilize ac power. Now, this article will not be about the 1880s but the 1980s, albeit with less controversy compared to the 1880s. It is the controversy that I am alluding to here.