With a middle name like Proteus, being awesome comes naturally.

This Day in History: January 29th, 1895. 

So I was reading up on Charles P. Steinmetz (the P stands for Proteus; no, I'm serious), whose patent for what would become the modern electrical power grid on this day in 1895. Other than a sincerely fantastic name (he was born Carl August Rudolph Steinmetz which, while a solid effort, still does not contain the word 'Proteus'), the whole story's pretty standard until I see this: 

Steinmetz retired from GE for a faculty position at Union College in Schenectady, but GE still called him back now and then as a consultant to solve difficult problems. Once, while troubleshooting a malfunctioning apparatus, Steinmetz painstakingly traced the problem to the element that wasn't working, and then marked it with chalk. When he submitted a bill for $10,000 (more than $100,000 in today's money), GE asked him to itemize the charges.

He sent them this invoice:

Making chalk mark: $1 
Knowing where to place it: $9,999

Do you know what this means? It means BAD NEWS BEAR ALERT, that's what it means. That is the bitchest I've ever seen a scientist get about electrical currents (and let me tell you, I've been visited by the ghost of Nikolai Tesla and even he showed more restraint). Oh, these are the days I wait for: while not the founding father of Bad News Quests, Charles Proteus Steinmetz was servin' it up Victorian-style for all the haters and squares way before whatshisface . Outstanding stuff, Chuck. Really outstanding. I'd said keep up the good work but, you know. You're dead. But good news! Still awesome. 

Jan. 29, 1895: Electrifying! @ Wired.com