the light. As a researcher and lecturer at the Royal
Institution Davy worked closely with Michael Faraday who first joined
the institution as his manservant and later became his secretary.
Davy's crowning honour in the scientific world came in 1820, when he
was elected President of the Royal Society.

In the U.S.A. the prolific inventor Thomas Alva Edison
(1847-1931) who had invented the incandescent carbon filament bulb,
built a number of electricity generators in the vicinity of the
Niagara Falls. These used the power of the falling water to drive
hydraulic turbines which were coupled to the dynamos. These
generators were fitted with a spinning switch or commutator (one of
the neatest gadgets Edison ever invented) to make the current flow in
unidirectional pulses (D.C.) In 1876 all electrical equipment was
powered by direct current.

Today mains electricity plays a vital part in our everyday lives
and its applications are widespread and staggering in their immensity.
But we must not forget that popular demand for this convenient form of
power arose only about 100 years ago, mainly for illumination.

Recent experiments in superconductivity, using ceramic instead
metal conductors have given us an exciting glimpse into what might be
achieved for improving efficiency in the distribution of electric
power.

Historians of the future may well characterise the 20th century as
'the century of electricity & electronics'. But Edison's D.C.
generators could not in themselves, have achieved the spectacular
progress that has been made. All over the world we depend totally on
a system of transmitting mains electricity over long distances which
was originally created by an amazing inventor whose scientific
discoveries changed, and are still changing, the whole world. His
name was scarcely known to the general public, especially in Europe,
where he was born.

Who was this unknown pioneer? Some people reckon that it was this
astonishing visionary who invented wireless, remote control, robotics
and a form of X-ray photography using high frequency radio waves. A
patent which he took out in the U.S.A. in 1890 ultimately led to the
design of the humble ignition coil which energises billions and
billions of spark plugs in all the motor cars of the world. His
American patents fill a book two inches thick. His name was Nicola
Tesla (1856-1943).

Nicola Tesla was born in a small village in Croatia whic