Nikola Tesla was one of the world's brightest minds, bringing to life inventions never thought of before to benefit the people of the world's lives. He was the creator of Alternating Current or AC, while we are thankful for this today it wasn’t always the case.

Young Nikola was born on July 9th, 1856, in Smiljan, Croatia. He was born to a priest and a highly intelligent inventor, both of which helped influence him in his career path. As a boy, Nikola was often sick but he didn’t let that stop him from learning and excelling in school.

Tesla knew from a young age that he wanted to change the world for the better. As he matured he grew smarter and his imagination grew even wilder. Years later he went to attend the Technical University at Graz, Austria, and the University of Prague. During his time in Graz, Austria he saw the Gramme Dynamo which was a generator but could also work as an electric motor when used in reverse. This sparked his idea for using AC.

In 1822 Nikola went to work in Paris for the Continental Edison Company. It was a small stepping stone in his career but he was content. In his free time after work, he built his first induction motor.

Two years later Nikola decided to test his luck in America, with only four cents left in his pockets he set sail for New York City. The first place he found work was with Thomas Edison and his company. At first, Nikola thought this was a great opportunity and thought that he could befriend Edison, and for a time they were, but the more time the two spent working together the more they started to see how different they really were. Both inventors were very different in the way they worked and what they believed to be possible.

Edison didn’t believe in Tesla’s plan for using AC and believed that his company's direct current or DC was superior. Nikola knew that DC was ineffective as it could only go such a short distance before it faded out while AC could go much longer. Many towns couldn't afford to have an electric power plant within them so electricity wasn't very common. Nikola Tesla wanted to change that. He was persistent in trying to convince Edison to switch to AC but Edison was firm in his decision not to.

At one point Edison offered Telsa fifty grand if he was able to improve his DC dynamos designs. Tesla of course excepted Edison's offer and began to work on improving the designs. After months of work, he finally settled on a solution.

With his completed designs in hand, Telsa went off to show Edison his work. Edison was impressed with the designs Telsa had come up with. When Tesla was done showing Edison the designs he asked for the money that he was promised only to be laughed at by Edison. Edison claimed to Tesla that he doesn't understand American humor. Tesla quit soon after.

Now jobless Tesla thought about starting his own business. the Tesla Electic Light Company but it was soon obvious that it wasn't going anywhere. He ended up digging ditches for two dollars a day as he was unable to find any work using his degree.

In his time digging ditches Tesla began to find various people willing to back his research on AC. Within the two years of 1887 and 1888, Telsa had gotten over 30 different patents for his inventions. This ended up getting him noticed by other inventors and because of his work he was asked to give a speech to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers.

His speech at the institute caught a man's attention, more specifically George Westinghouse. Westinghouse was impressed with Tesla and hired him, licensing his patents for his AC motor. Unlike Edison, Westinghouse believed in using AC and had even launched his own AC power system near Boston.