Nikola Tesla developed the first widely used electric induction motor in the 1880s.
Tesla conceived a practical alternating-current induction motor that used a rotating magnetic field. Unlike many earlier motors, it did not require a mechanical commutator or brushes to transfer current to the rotor. The rotating field induced current in the rotor, causing it to turn.
Tesla received U.S. patents for his polyphase AC motor system in 1888. George Westinghouse acquired rights to Tesla's patents and helped develop AC power systems for commercial use. The induction motor became important because it was durable, comparatively simple, and well suited to industrial machinery.
Michael Faraday's earlier work on electromagnetic induction provided essential scientific foundations, but he did not invent Tesla's practical induction motor. Tesla's motor also formed part of the broader late-19th-century competition between alternating-current and direct-current systems.