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He was strongly convinced that electromagnetic waves as described by Maxwell and experimentally shown by Hertz were uselessly wrong theory and that Hertz didn't

by detaro 3y ago

He was strongly convinced that electromagnetic waves as described by Maxwell and experimentally shown by Hertz were uselessly wrong theory and that Hertz didn't understand the results of his own experiment (According to Tesla electromagnetic waves were longitudinal, i.e. more like space contracting and expanding around the transmitter). His own theories generally are based around assumptions that the earth and parts of the atmosphere are really good conductors and energy would somehow flow through them almost losslessly if it just were done right. I don't think he ever published a unified theory on how exactly that would work. In contrast Maxwell's equations are still part of every physics curriculum.

ianburrell 3y ago
It is sad because this is where Tesla went off the rails. If he had kept working on radio, he would have likely shared 1909 Nobel Prize for radio. Tesla wasn’t a good business man but could have revived his career.
mwbajor 3y ago
I think a more basic way of describing it is that he was one of the last scientists to hold onto the theory of needing an "aether" for EM waves to travel through. The Michelson Morley experiment was in the 1880s and Tesla held on to the "luminiferous aether" theory until he died in the 1940's I believe. I seem to remember that he thought all other theories were "flawed" like you said. People will say "Tesla was smart but not a good businessman, etc" and obviously he was a smart guy but still a tragic figure for holding onto old theories some of which bankrupted him.
- Keysh 3y ago
  Well, he alternated between not believing in the existence of (EM) radio waves at all and claiming that they were useless for transmitting messages, which isn't the same as the luminiferous ether idea. Belief in a luminiferous ether (that fills all of space) is consistent with the idea that EM waves can travel through space (after all, we can see light coming from the Sun, etc.) and that radio waves could be used. But Tesla seems to have argued that working "radio" technology was really electrical currents traveling through the ground (or through the ocean in the case of radio on ships), which then somehow induced "reception" in the radio equipment located above the currents.

by detaro 3y ago

ianburrell 3y ago

It is sad because this is where Tesla went off the rails. If he had kept working on radio, he would have likely shared 1909 Nobel Prize for radio. Tesla wasn’t a good business man but could have revived his career.

mwbajor 3y ago

I think a more basic way of describing it is that he was one of the last scientists to hold onto the theory of needing an "aether" for EM waves to travel through. The Michelson Morley experiment was in the 1880s and Tesla held on to the "luminiferous aether" theory until he died in the 1940's I believe. I seem to remember that he thought all other theories were "flawed" like you said. People will say "Tesla was smart but not a good businessman, etc" and obviously he was a smart guy but still a tragic figure for holding onto old theories some of which bankrupted him.

Keysh 3y ago
Well, he alternated between not believing in the existence of (EM) radio waves at all and claiming that they were useless for transmitting messages, which isn't the same as the luminiferous ether idea. Belief in a luminiferous ether (that fills all of space) is consistent with the idea that EM waves can travel through space (after all, we can see light coming from the Sun, etc.) and that radio waves could be used. But Tesla seems to have argued that working "radio" technology was really electrical currents traveling through the ground (or through the ocean in the case of radio on ships), which then somehow induced "reception" in the radio equipment located above the currents.