born at livorno vercellese (kingdom of sardinia), ferraris gained a master's degree in engineering and became an assistant of technical physics near the regal italian industrial museum. ferraris independently researched the rotary magnetic field in 1885. ferraris experimented with different types of asynchronous electric motors. the research and his studies resulted in the development of an alternator, which may be thought of as an alternating-current motor operating in reverse, so as to convert mechanical (rotating) power into electric power (as alternating current).