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Edison-DC 

*Thomas Edison was known in the early 1880s as the “King of Electricity,” a title he retains yet today.  He first received that title not because he had made any scientific contribution to the science of electricity, but because he had invented an incandescent lamp in 1879. 

*In order to light all lamps in a small area of downtown NYC he had to build a huge power generating plant close by which he called the Pearl Street Power Station.

*What the most people do not know or fully appreciate is the fact that Edison, being head of his Menlo Park Laboratory, was obliged to hire college educated engineers to construct his power plant.  Further, there was nothing novel about the DC generators they constructed -- they were simply using the DC technology already well established as far back as 1872.  The engineers’ task was simply to build larger generators to handle the projected load their power lines would have to carry.

*Nevertheless, the fanfare and publicity this activity caused in the middle of downtown NYC was so great, and the fact that most people had almost no knowledge or understanding of this relatively new source of power immediately catapulted Edison’s image as the “Wizard of Menlo Park” and “The King of Electricity.”

*The fact that people could see the light coming from his lamp seemed to verify that he had created something almost magical, and the fact that the electricity powering his lamp could not be seen contributed to the mystery of electricity -- with Edison being its creator.  The myth continues to this day.