Geek History Storyteller | Music Fanatic | Geek Speak Simplifier | Buzzword Buster | Grandpa

If I could choose any time to live in, how about a specific time and place, Pittsburgh in the latter half of the 19th century.

I grew up studying radio and telephone technology. Currently, I spent a lot of time researching the War of Currents, the famous business and technology battle between George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison.

I also love to study the history of transportation. The latter half of the 19th century into the early 20th century saw the heyday of the steam locomotive evolve into the era of our modern automobile.

Why then? Why there?

That part of the answer should be obvious, so much was happening then that changed our world.

George Westinghouse came to Pittsburgh at the age of 23 in 1868, in search of steel for his patented railcar replacer and railway frog. As an inventor, Westinghouse was deeply interested in making railroads safer. He went on to patent his renowned Westinghouse Airbrake, which led to the creation of The Westinghouse Airbrake Manufacturing Company in 1869.

The concept of AC power distribution was not a new concept for George Westinghouse, because he was also an inventor in the natural gas industry. Westinghouse became interested in the inventions of European Inventors Gaulard and Gibbs and purchased the American rights to their patents for AC transformers in 1885. Westinghouse and his staff worked on improving and redesigning the transformers, and the Westinghouse Electric Company was started in 1886. In the 1890s Westinghouse Electric would defeat Edison Electric in the War of Currents.

Reginald Fessenden was born in 1866, died in 1932. Reginald Fessenden was a mucker for Thomas Edison, he later went to work for George Westinghouse. He was one of many men that could be considered the father of radio.

Fessenden helped Westinghouse to defeat Edison in the War of Currents. Westinghouse recruited Fessenden to become the first head of electrical engineering at the Western University of Pennsylvania, later named the University of Pittsburgh. Fessenden was chair of Pitt's electrical engineering department from 1893 to 1900.

Fessenden began experimenting with wireless telephones in 1898. Fessenden used Pittsburgh as his testbed for wireless telephones setting up a wireless communication system functioning between Pittsburgh and Allegheny City in 1899 and achieved the first wireless voice transmission in December 1900.

My lifelong research of GeekHistory has given me a great appreciation for many forgotten geeks like Reginald Fessenden, one of the most important inventors in the evolution of radio.

Westinghouse - Chapter 18 - Lights at the Fair https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqsYm3xEEHc

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