Early Career
Prior to working with Edison, Brown labored as a salesperson for the Western Electric Company and the Brush Electric Company, selling electrical devices, most notably Edison’s electric pen. However, the ambitious Brown aspired to be more than a salesman. Edison was his role model. Still, with little formal training in the field of science or invention, Brown failed in securing several patents of his own.
His golden opportunity came during the hey-day of the War of Currents between alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC). Brown would side with Edison and DC and staked his career on proving that AC was more deadly than DC and thus should not be used as the current of choice for powering electrical devices in homes.
Read more about this topic: Harold P. Brown
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or career:
“I looked at my daughters, and my boyhood picture, and appreciated the gift of parenthood, at that moment, more than any other gift I have ever been given. For what person, except one’s own children, would want so deeply and sincerely to have shared your childhood? Who else would think your insignificant and petty life so precious in the living, so rich in its expressiveness, that it would be worth partaking of what you were, to understand what you are?”
—Gerald Early (20th century)
“I restore myself when I’m alone. A career is born in public—talent in privacy.”
—Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962)