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Nikola Tesla always gets wrongfully overshadowed by Edison for some reason. Although Edison actively shunned down innovations by Tesla time and time again just

Nikola Tesla always gets wrongfully overshadowed by Edison for some reason. Although Edison actively shunned down innovations by Tesla time and time again just so he can make more money. He also stole credit for some of the stuff that Tesla did [1]. [1] Nikola Tesla: Imagination and the Man That Invented the 20th Century

WalterBright 10y ago
Tesla's big contribution was AC power generation and motors, which revolutionized the power generation industry, and he is recognized for that. But Edison invented the power generation industry, as well as multiple others. You might be interested in "Edison", by Josephson.
euyyn 10y ago
> Nikola Tesla always gets [...] overshadowed by Edison for some reason. I get the exact opposite impression.
- Larrikin 10y ago
  Tesla has recently been getting his due, but most people of a certain age remember having Edison drilled into their heads all through elementary, middle, and high school, with barely a mention of Tesla unless the teacher was really into history and science
  - euyyn 10y ago
    Oh, I see. I guess it must be a US thing?
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
cr0sh 10y ago
My impression of both, having read multiple biographies, etc - is that they were both very much "men of their times". I'm not sure how to describe it better, but I do most sincerely wish that they had cooperated, rather than competed; I think the two together would have been an awesome powerhouse of invention and ideas, with Tesla's formal education and knowledge tempering and informing Edison's "independent inventor's" can-do attitude. I believe had they, we likely would have had an electronic amplifier much sooner (given Edison's discovery of the "Edison effect" which led to the vacuum tube much later), plus radio, possibly even advancing the ideas and such of Hollerith (then again, I am surprised that a relay computer wasn't created much earlier, as Babbage knew of Boole and undoubtedly boolean algebra, and likely had knowledge on electrical telegraph circuits and early relays). Then again, maybe it's better that it didn't happen, given the later horrors of WW1 (although, maybe that wouldn't have happened - perhaps the economy would have improved, or something else - no way of knowing, of course).
petemill 10y ago
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla

WalterBright 10y ago

Tesla's big contribution was AC power generation and motors, which revolutionized the power generation industry, and he is recognized for that. But Edison invented the power generation industry, as well as multiple others. You might be interested in "Edison", by Josephson.

euyyn 10y ago

> Nikola Tesla always gets [...] overshadowed by Edison for some reason. I get the exact opposite impression.

Larrikin 10y ago
Tesla has recently been getting his due, but most people of a certain age remember having Edison drilled into their heads all through elementary, middle, and high school, with barely a mention of Tesla unless the teacher was really into history and science
- euyyn 10y ago
  Oh, I see. I guess it must be a US thing?

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

cr0sh 10y ago

My impression of both, having read multiple biographies, etc - is that they were both very much "men of their times". I'm not sure how to describe it better, but I do most sincerely wish that they had cooperated, rather than competed; I think the two together would have been an awesome powerhouse of invention and ideas, with Tesla's formal education and knowledge tempering and informing Edison's "independent inventor's" can-do attitude. I believe had they, we likely would have had an electronic amplifier much sooner (given Edison's discovery of the "Edison effect" which led to the vacuum tube much later), plus radio, possibly even advancing the ideas and such of Hollerith (then again, I am surprised that a relay computer wasn't created much earlier, as Babbage knew of Boole and undoubtedly boolean algebra, and likely had knowledge on electrical telegraph circuits and early relays). Then again, maybe it's better that it didn't happen, given the later horrors of WW1 (although, maybe that wouldn't have happened - perhaps the economy would have improved, or something else - no way of knowing, of course).

petemill 10y ago

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla