History
Powering the Nation Starts in Pittsburgh
The city of Pittsburgh is our nation’s true energy hub, where creative minds first came together to build electricity and move the nation — and the world — forward.
From Samuel Kier’s first kerosene refinery to Edwin Drake’s first commercial oil well just 80 miles north of Pittsburgh, our region has been at the center of a great deal of energy history.
That rich history grew even more in the late 19th century, when the country was looking to electricity to power its rapid growth. Great minds like Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla all were developing competing electric power transmission systems in what would become known as the “war of the currents.”
Tesla believed his alternating current (AC) was superior to Edison’s direct current (DC) as a power system. He came to Pittsburgh to partner with Westinghouse, and AC power took off, becoming the nation’s primary technological means of electricity delivery for more than a century.
All that history demands a stewardship to protect and enhance Pittsburgh’s place as an energy capital.
The University of Pittsburgh’s Electric Power Engineering Program proudly builds on the foundation laid by these great leaders and hopes to continue to inspire and empower the next generation.
"If someday they say of me that in my work I have contributed something to the welfare and happiness of my fellow man, I shall be satisfied."
—George Westinghouse
“The scientific man does not aim at an immediate result. He does not expect that his advanced ideas will be readily taken up. His work is like that of the planter—for the future. His duty is to lay the foundation for those who are to come, and point the way.”
—Nikola Tesla
