There is an ongoing debate between people as to who was responsible for modern lights and electricity, in general. Commonly, history refers to Thomas Edison as the father of the light bulb. Yet, many claim he was a hack, a charlatan who took advantage of greater men and stole their ideas, men like Nikola Tesla. Nikola Tesla is quite well known in his own right for his many contributions to the understanding of electricity. Companies, like Westinghouse, were built on the backs of men like Tesla. Anyone who has ever played Command and Conquer has surely reveled in the fizzing zap as a Tesla coil destroys an enemy. Yep, that’s Tesla, he really made that (though it is somewhat less glorious in real life.)

It was 1885 when Tesla redesigned the Edison company power generators and converted them from DC (Direct Current) to AC (Alternating Current). Edison had promised that if Tesla could pull it off then, “There’s fifty thousand dollars in it for you.” When Edison reneged on that promise, Tesla quit right then and there. More than 125 years later, we still rely on that AC current, which allows us to move electricity over vast distances. To do the same thing with DC current would require so much amperage it would be incredibly dangerous. Nowadays, many smaller devices, and most sensitive equipment like computers, require a low voltage DC current and that is why we need converters and specific chargers and that is why we need power supplies.