Invented in 1902 by Peter Cooper Hewitt, mercury-arc rectifiers were used to provide power for industrial motors, electric railways, streetcars, and electric locomotives, as well as for radio transmitters and for high-voltage direct current (HVDC) power transmission. They were the primary method of high power rectification before the advent of semiconductor rectifiers, such as diodes, thyristors and gate turn-off thyristors (GTOs) in the 1970s. These solid state rectifiers have since completely replaced mercury-arc rectifiers thanks to their higher reliability, lower cost and maintenance and lower environmental risk.[3]