Nikola Tesla invented.
Nikola Tesla . His alternating current ( AC ) induction motor and related polyphase AC patents , licensed by Westinghouse Electric in 1888 , earned him a considerable amount of money and became the cornerstone of the polyphase system which that company would eventually market . Attempting to develop inventions he could patent and market , Tesla conducted a range of experiments with mechanical oscillators/generators , electrical discharge tubes , and early X-ray imaging . After Wardenclyffe , Tesla went on to try and develop a series of inventions in the 1910s and 1920s with varying degrees of success .