The Vacuum Pump

You flick on a light without thinking about it. But what about the fascinating and bizarre stories hidden behind that simple action? Fortunes were made and lost, ideas stolen, rivalries pursued, dogs electrocuted, beards set on fire, arms amputated, and decapitated human heads reanimated all with the invention and evolution of electricity.

To discuss this history that we take for granted is Kathy Joseph, author of The Lightning Tamers: True Stories of the Dreamers and Schemers Who Harnessed Electricity and Transformed Our World.

We look at the stories of those who made it possible, from the assistant who invented the electric light 140 years before Edison to the severed ear that led to the telephone, follow the chain of experiments, inventions, and discoveries through time. We also look at the business wars between George Westinghouse, Thomas Edison, and Nikola Tesla that made Coke vs. Pepsi seem tame by comparison.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.