George Westinghouse
East Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Inventor of air brake and some 400 other devices. Developed AC transmission of electric current. Spent creative years in Pittsburgh and founded the industry which bears his name.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
George Westinghouse was one of the towering inventors of America's industrial age, credited with the railroad air brake and some four hundred other patents. From his base in Pittsburgh he championed alternating-current electricity, the system that won the 'War of the Currents' and made it possible to transmit power across long distances. The company he founded turned his ideas into an industrial empire that helped electrify the modern world.
Why it matters
Westinghouse's air brake made rail travel vastly safer and his AC system lit the nation, placing him among the handful of inventors whose work defined the technological shape of modern America.
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Nearby & related markers
Westinghouse Railroad Air Brake
Pittsburgh, PA · est. 2011
In 1869 a young inventor named George Westinghouse solved one of railroading's deadliest problems: how to stop a long train quickly and safely. His compressed-air brake let an engineer halt every car at once instead of relying on brakemen scrambling car to car. From this building his company grew into an industrial giant, and the technology he pioneered still slows trains around the world today.
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