George Westinghouse Memorial

George Westinghouse, a Union soldier and citizen of Pittsburgh, founded the Westinghouse industries and was a benefactor of humanity through his labors and inventions from 1846 to 1914. By the invention of the air brake and automatic signaling devices, he led the world in developing appliances that promoted the speed, safety, and economy of transportation, and the Westinghouse Air Brake immeasurably increased the speed, safety, and economy of railway transportation throughout the world. Modern signaling systems that enable speed with safety in transportation grew from his vision. By his early vision of the value of the alternating current electric system, he brought about a revolution in the transmission of electric power. The first substitution of high voltage electricity for operating a main line railroad, steam turbines that produced vast power in small space and great economy, and the conversion of Niagara's energy to electricity for the first great power system all became part of achievements associated with his work, helping create an industrial empire. In his later years he was rightly called the greatest living engineer, and through his ingenuity, persistence, courage, integrity, and leadership, he accomplished much of first importance to mankind.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania · United States