galileo ferraris (31 october 1847 – 7 february 1897) was an italian physicist and electrical engineer, one of the pioneers of ac power system and an inventor of the three-phase induction motor. many newspapers touted that his work on the induction motor and power transmission systems were some of the greatest inventions of all ages. he published an extensive and complete monograph on the experimental results obtained with open-circuit transformers of the type designed by the power engineers lucien gaulard and john dixon gibbs.