Niko­la Tes­la, a Ser­bian-Amer­i­can inven­tor and elec­tri­cal engi­neer, devel­oped the first prac­ti­cal induc­tion motor in 1888 at his lab­o­ra­to­ry on Lib­er­ty Street in New York City. An induc­tion motor is an alte­nat­ing-cur­rent (AC) elec­tric motor, in which the elec­tric cur­rent in the rotor is induced by the elec­tro­mag­net­ic field of the sta­tor, rather than being sup­plied by exter­nal con­nec­tions. This type of motor is wide­ly used in indus­tri­al and house­hold appli­ances. Tes­la’s inven­tion was a major step for­ward in the devel­op­ment of AC (alter­nat­ing cur­rent) pow­er sys­tems, which had many advan­tages over the DC (direct cur­rent) sys­tems in use at the time.