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It's a pity that schools teach more about Edison than Tesla. Tesla was a genius, just as much if not more so than Edison.

hoag 16y ago
Agreed: I rarely heard much of him at all until my undergrad E&M courses at UCLA. Shame.
- BerislavLopac 16y ago
  You would if you lived in Croatia, Serbia or pretty much anywhere in former Yugoslavia. He's pretty much considered a national hero over here, and primary schools organize trips to his birthplace, or to technical museums which have permanent exhibitions with working copies of his best inventions. ;)
  - forkrulassail 16y ago
    That is awesome to hear. He is mostly hidden by other cultures.
fiesycal 16y ago
Isn't that because Edison was a much better business man than Tesla. In modern terms Edison was the 'entrepreneur' while Tesla was the 'hacker'.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- hoag 16y ago
  While I get your point, isn't it today's hackers that become the best entrepreneurs? In fact, I think one could say that if one is a successful entrepreneur, then one is necessarily a good hacker (although obviously not necessarily the other way around, and hence your point which, again, is not missed).
- ErrantX 16y ago
  Absolutely; it is something of a shame that Edison is often treated as that era's only example of a great inventor - he was a smart guy for certain, but had many flaws. Not least a ruthless business side that often crossed into the nasty and vindictive, and a single mindedness that meant he wouldn't accept his beliefs could be incorrect (hence sticking to promotion of DC for so long). Tesla had numerous flaws as well; but he was much more a pure inventor and ultimately uninterested in money. Probably the smarter of the two, and certainly his work was fundamental to modern life (i.e. AC power transmission). There is probably a lot to take away from learning about both men equally :)
raghava 16y ago
In my place, I bet only 10% of 'engineers' know about Nikola Tesla. Pity. Even his contemporaries (and ones with a similar vision and thought) like Sir. J C Bose are not quite well-known.

hoag 16y ago

Agreed: I rarely heard much of him at all until my undergrad E&M courses at UCLA. Shame.

BerislavLopac 16y ago
You would if you lived in Croatia, Serbia or pretty much anywhere in former Yugoslavia. He's pretty much considered a national hero over here, and primary schools organize trips to his birthplace, or to technical museums which have permanent exhibitions with working copies of his best inventions. ;)
- forkrulassail 16y ago
  That is awesome to hear. He is mostly hidden by other cultures.

fiesycal 16y ago

Isn't that because Edison was a much better business man than Tesla. In modern terms Edison was the 'entrepreneur' while Tesla was the 'hacker'.

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
hoag 16y ago
While I get your point, isn't it today's hackers that become the best entrepreneurs? In fact, I think one could say that if one is a successful entrepreneur, then one is necessarily a good hacker (although obviously not necessarily the other way around, and hence your point which, again, is not missed).
ErrantX 16y ago
Absolutely; it is something of a shame that Edison is often treated as that era's only example of a great inventor - he was a smart guy for certain, but had many flaws. Not least a ruthless business side that often crossed into the nasty and vindictive, and a single mindedness that meant he wouldn't accept his beliefs could be incorrect (hence sticking to promotion of DC for so long). Tesla had numerous flaws as well; but he was much more a pure inventor and ultimately uninterested in money. Probably the smarter of the two, and certainly his work was fundamental to modern life (i.e. AC power transmission). There is probably a lot to take away from learning about both men equally :)

raghava 16y ago

In my place, I bet only 10% of 'engineers' know about Nikola Tesla. Pity. Even his contemporaries (and ones with a similar vision and thought) like Sir. J C Bose are not quite well-known.