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Nikola Tesla Wasn't God And Thomas Edison Wasn't The Devil

325 points by timf 14y ago

tinylittlefish 14y ago
Interesting, if only because I've always been fascinated by the time period and events surrounding the adoption of electricity. A really interesting book about Edison and Tesla is "Empires of Light" by Jill Jones.
Porter_423 14y ago
If there’s one thing I would severely criticize Edison and his company for, it was how they handled the patents for technology used in shooting and showing film. They had some weird idea that film was fundamentally something that should only be used for “shorts”, and so they were in constant conflict with unauthorized movie-makers and cinemas (one of the reasons why Hollywood came to be a major film production spot was because it was a relatively quiet place very far from New York City, an Edison stronghold).
felipemnoa 14y ago
>>What’s more, Edison was haunted by Dally’s death to the end of his days. It agonized him. While Dally was alive and suffering, Edison kept him on the payroll and took care of all of his expenses until the day he died. In the early 20th Century, let me assure you that keeping employees on the payroll who couldn’t work was not a common practice. << I read in one of his biographies that in the latter years he kept a lot of employees, against his son's wishes, who were basically doing nothing for sentimental reasons because they had been with him in the early days.
- miahi 14y ago
  It's called equity now.
neya 14y ago
Edison always reminds me of Steve Jobs. EDIT: 1)Mocking existing/others' technologies/inventions just to claim theirs is better, even while its not. 2)Marketing skills 3)Focused on sales. Sorry for upsetting you, fanboys ;)
- debacle 14y ago
  Of who?
  - raju 14y ago
    I think he means Steve Jobs
    - neya 14y ago
      Yep. I did. Thanks. Looks like I've upset some fanboys with my comment. ;)
      - 1123581321 14y ago
        I didn't downvote you and I agree in some ways with you, but your comment didn't really say anything. Perhaps you could edit it to point out some of the similarities you notice.
        neya 14y ago
        Thanks, I've edited my original comment to reflect my reasons. Have a great day!
- eevilspock 14y ago
  No, he's more like Bill Gates. Tesla/Jobs are driven by a desire to change the world. Edison/Gates by the desire to own the world. You can see the difference in all the decisions Apple made in its history, often making choices of design purity over market dominance. It ultimately dominated by sticking to its design principles, showing that sometimes the long-view wins. I think Tesla would have thrived if he could have gone to Jobs instead of Edison for support.
  - neya 14y ago
    First of all, I don't want to land up in a Bill Gates vs Steve Jobs argument. I strongly believe both have done remarkable things in different ways. Second, please stop claiming "Jobs has changed/has a desire to change the world". For America, it maybe true, but not for the rest of 'THE WORLD'. Nokia/Samsung/etc still lead the sales in Asian countries, for instance. Third, I 'personally' think its a good thing that Tesla didn't meet Steve J. Well, look at what XEROX is now. That is all I can say.
madiator 14y ago
Oatmeal's tactic to go viral was simple: create a good looking comic and express an extreme view, one that moves you psychologically and you think, "wow is that true? I didn't know that and I bet none of my friends do". Well played Oatmeal.
- Agathos 14y ago
  A good cartoon is better propaganda than a pure-text rant. It's been true for centuries.
- vermontdevil 14y ago
  I believe Oatmeal likes to draw comics to generate traffic from Reddit. Not always but seems to be that way. Since Tesla is well-loved on Reddit, it's logical he would do this to get all the clicks.
- mcantelon 14y ago
  Oatmeal reminds me of Coding Horror: usually unoriginal, but adept at packaging content in a way that generates widespread appeal.
- ArcticCelt 14y ago
  Extreme view in the outside world but very common view in the tech geek culture. I've seen countless of times this rambling about Edison evilness vs Tesla misunderstood semi god status. The Oatmeal always run with something already popular to the crowd that frequent reddit and the likes.
ralfd 14y ago
I long waited for something like that. Good summary in the forbes article and even better links to other authors. The hive minds opinions (reddit cough) regarding Edison/Tesla always reminded me a bit on the absurd "Moon landing history theme ride" in Futurama or the UN-Dinosaur-War-against-Nazis in "Idiocracy".
kenamarit 14y ago
I liked the play-by-play refutation of the comic, he really researched the whole thing (so I didn't have to). I learned some new things! I enjoyed the tone of the comic, however, even if it was inaccurate or disputable or at times just plain wrong. For me, Edison is one of those figures, like Christopher Columbus, or George Washington, that you learn about every single year growing up, since kindergarten, and whose myth is so grand and ubiquitous that every teacher I had from elementary school up until junior year physics said the exact same thing about him. Tesla was just another of a dozen names in the textbook. So in a way I understand the sentiment. You grow up being told that this is guy, Edison, is the most awesome inventor in the history of America. And because of that I always felt a certain distrust about his accomplishments (even if I'm wrong), because so much of what my teachers taught me growing up turned out to be wrong.
- debacle 14y ago
  We all stand on the shoulders of giants. Edison was no different.
- theorique 14y ago
  I agree - that smart-ass tone for me was the fun thing as well. Edison, as a larger than life figure in the past 100 years seems to be untouchable. The Oatmeal comic was a rush because I was thinking "you can't say those things about Edison". Of course, the real story is more complex than either hagiography.
- agwa 14y ago
  > So in a way I understand the sentiment. Yeah, but isn't what The Oatmeal did just as bad as what grade school teachers do? If we go from "Edison is the most awesome inventor in the history of America" to "Edison is the biggest asshat in the history of America," we've gained absolutely no honesty in our discourse. The Forbes article was nuanced and factually correct, which is what we should be striving for.
- sliverstorm 14y ago
  You grow up being told that this is guy, Edison, is the most awesome inventor in the history of America. Well, consider this. Let's suppose Tesla was actually the most awesome inventor, and Edison was second. Which do you want to show children? The one who was a genius, or the one who made no bones about the fact that hard work was the main ingredient to his success? In other words, do we teach children that being smart is important, or do we teach them that hard work is important?
j45 14y ago
I can't understand why the writer is reacting so much to the comic. Sure, it uses blunt language, but is the writer related to Edison distantly or his childhood hero or something? Unlimited wireless electricity, among other Tesla's inventions are still mind boggling 100 years later. He drove a car with an electric engine, powered wirelessly, over 100 years ago.* What have we done since? From a more day to day perspective: - Marconi's patents for inventing radio were overturned in Tesla's prior invention of radio. - Inventor of Lasers - Remote Control I think we've gotten over the light bulb. Still, the disposable lightbulb sells and sells, a testament to Edison's business mind. Based on the number, and staggering impact of each of Tesla's inventions, I don't believe Edison could spell Tesla on his best day; especially where it camee to innovation and creating things that hadn't existed before, let alone imagined. The main question about Edison vs Tesla is, why no one knows who Tesla is even though he was at least an equal to Edison, if not arguably more. * There's some argument about this occurring but there are also media reports that exist.
- silverdrake11 14y ago
  The electric car story appears to be an urban legend: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_electric_car http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_electric_car
  - tedunangst 14y ago
    That Wikipedia page is obviously the work of an Edison fanboy. Or some electric industry astroturfer covering up the truth about unlimited free energy from space.
  - j45 14y ago
    FWIW, about half way down right before the first map: http://www.tfcbooks.com/teslafaq/q&a_016.htm http://www.tfcbooks.com/teslafaq/q&a_016.htm "An article appearing in the New York Daily News, April 2, 1934 titled "Tesla's Wireless Power Dream Nears Reality" mentions the planned "test run of a motor car [for a distance of 30 or 40 miles] over a stretch of [Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe] railway track [running from Boise City, Oklahoma] to Farley, N. M." using wireless transmission of electrical energy to power the vehicle. The equipment was assembled by "two Californians" and is described as "including a high-powered radio transmitter with big coils and and short antenna."
kylemaxwell 14y ago
I'm glad the writer enjoyed taking the piss out of The Oatmeal, but serious articles responding to a mostly-tongue-in-cheek webcomic seem to have missed the point. I wonder if he'll write an article next about how working from home doesn't actually destroy our abilities of communication and continence.
- kevinchen 14y ago
  Right, but while it is clear that the comic about working from home was for humor, some people have taken the comic about Tesla vs Edison as fact.
  - babarock 14y ago
    I think the "cult of Tesla" preceded the comic. It seems to me like conspiracy theorists particularly affectionate this story, for some reason. I guess that the author was simply refuting the comic as the latest manifestation of an annoying trend.
    - Ygg2 14y ago
      You don't know the half of it. I actually have a biography of Tesla where it says he could generate earthquakes, extract free energy from space and whatnot... And my suspension of belief cracks. Perhaps he really could do some of the amazing thing he claimed but talking to aliens and pigeons that had laser eyes? I dunno maybe he was a wee bit unstable.
- ForrestN 14y ago
  Really? I don't quite understand how you're using "tongue-in-cheek" here, but I didn't take the article to be sarcastic at all. I'm not an avid reader of the comic, but it reads to me like someone who's a passionate fan of Tesla, making a sincere argument for Tesla's importance relative to Edison (and further, making an argument against revering Edison at all), and then going so far as to thank him. I don't know enough about it to have a position on who's more correct, but the fact that it's a webcomic, and therefor somehow "unserious," doesn't imply that the author doesn't believe what he's saying. If the point is being missed, if it's not that Tesla is an overlooked genius who deserved, and deserves, more admiration, what is the point, exactly?
dmor 14y ago
There is a great biography of Edison which was very eye opening to me - I did not realize how many patents he held or how many other inventions and innovations on other work he had made beyond the longer burning commercial lightbulb. http://refer.ly/a09m http://refer.ly/a09m Just in case you don't read the book, there is a story where they first got the lightbulb to burn for a long time... I think it was 30-something hours. And they just stayed awake sitting there in amazement watching it burn until it burned out. I feel like that awe is so in the spirit of today's modern startups when we first launch or discover something. When they "launched" the new lightbulb they strung them up all over the yard of Edison's house, and people came driving up at night for the event and it was like magic. I would give anything to have seen that. I think its really cool that he improved on other people's inventions, helping make things like the telegraph and typewriter into practical, affordable, useful tools that lots of people could buy. That might not be as grand as making brand new things, but it has a huge impact on human life. He also created the phonograph, the first idea of "records" (wax scrolls) and did a ton of work on early motion pictures. The list just goes on and on, learn about him, you'll be surprised to find that what they taught you in school was just surface-level and there is really so much more there.
eevilspock 14y ago
Tesla vs Edison is my favorite Drunk History: http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/ef668caf14/drunk-history-vol-6-w-john-c-reilly-crispin-glover http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/ef668caf14/drunk-history-vo... Duncan Trussell clearly disagrees with the OP. In other words, the OP is anti-oatmeal and anti-booze. What is wrong with him?
- adviceonly 14y ago
  Edison may not have electrocuted the animals in the video, but he fried an elephant with AC: http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/01/dayintech_0104 http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/01/dayint...
redwood 14y ago
Little story: So I walk into a bar in Belgrade, Serbia. Turns out to be a private party, lot's of drinking and merry-ment but my girl and I felt a bit out of place. Just before we turned for the door a man pulled me by the shoulder to the bar and started asking what we were doing there, real intimidating-like. He said we could have drinks on him but I felt a little like we didn't want to be indebted to this guy. On the other hand I felt I had no choice. He had asked me what I'd studied and I mentioned physics. He got the bar-tenders attention, got me a drink, and asked me "so... you say you know something about physics... tell me: 'what nationality was Nikola Tesla?'" I responded "Croatian" of course. Suddenly the faces of the man, the bartender, and (so it seemed) the rest of the bar too went very gloomy, eyes piercing into me like shots of raiki (the liquor they drink). I learned that night that the Serbs claim Tesla was a Serbian who lived in Croatia. The Croatians and Serbs (who hate each other very much) both claim him as their national heros. Lessons: - if you're in Serbia, Tesla was a Serbian (and a god) - if you're in Croatia, Tesla was a Croatian (and a god) - if you're anywhere else, well I guess now I know he wasn't god
- alushta 14y ago
  Well, Tesla really was a Serbian - his father was in fact, a Serbian Orthodox priest, so the documentation on this is clear. Of course, since he was born into the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and studied in Graz, we might as well let the Austrians take credit, as the Austrians really need it (what's Austria's greatest accomplishment? convincing the world that Mozart is Austrian, and Hitler is German!) But really, he did his best work as an American, so USA! USA! USA! :)
  - surement 14y ago
    Freud?
    - alushta 14y ago
      Nah, Freud is a Galician Jew, not an Austrian. :)
  - JumpCrisscross 14y ago
lordlicorice 14y ago
> Is it possible – just possible – that Edison honestly believed that AC was dangerous and honestly did not think it should be use? This strikes me as pretty naive. Edison had the patents that effectively controlled the market for DC electricity. He would have been a Carnegie or a Rockefeller had DC been adopted. He had such an extreme conflict of interest that it's unreasonable to assume good faith.
- dimitar 14y ago
  DC power distribution. In the beginning DC dominated because of technical reasons. Efficient AC motors and generators were just getting invented eand transformers weren't that good. And for various reasons some applications still use DC motors - for example only in robotics, servomotors; but consider that in the last 20 years do things like air-conditioners and elevators start to use AC motors (because of the efficiency made possible with solid-state inverters).
  - nextparadigms 14y ago
    It sounds like AC disrupted the DC market. Sounds perfectly reasonable to me that Edison didn't want to be disrupted and took legal action, not unlike how it happens today in many industries.
    - luriel 14y ago
      Another example of how patents actually hinder and harm innovation. Which is not surprising when you start to think of them as government granted monopolies.
  - jules 14y ago
    Interesting tidbit: Modern long distance underseas power transmission is DC again (because it's more efficient, among other reasons). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-voltage_direct_current http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-voltage_direct_current
- bshanks 14y ago
namank 14y ago
I'm glad a publication like Forbes is picking up on such internet phenomenon and setting things straight. We need this more than ever. This is not much different than Steve Jobs vs. Dennis Ritchie.
- nodemaker 14y ago
  This could not be further from Steve Jobs vs Dennis Ritchie. In fact there is no Steve Jobs vs Dennis Ritchie.Tesla vs Edison however was very real.
  - namank 14y ago
    There will be in about 25 years. Beginnings of which have already been pointed out by that Facebook picture that went viral, the one that tries to contrast their contributions and their fame.
    - unimpressive 14y ago
      This is even more ridiculous than Tesla vs. Edison, because Ritchie and Jobs had almost nothing to do with each other. Their only real relation is that they died in the same month. The viral facebook picture you cite is comparable to one saying that Ritchie was just stealing the innovations of Turing. Or that Ritchie was just a thief of the game changing ideas of John Backus. At least Tesla and Edison were working in the same space at the same time frame on similar problems.
      - zotz 14y ago
        Tesla used to work for Edison.
      - namank 14y ago
        1. They both worked in tech. 2. Think of the comparison as Engineer vs. Designer/Inventor(because this IS the legacy of Steve Jobs when looked at as a role model). 3. If you're REALLY hard pressed for details then...iOS is a descendent of Unix. Everything Apple runs on C. I can appreciate why it could be difficult to abstract the two men to the level at which I make the comparison. But you must ask yourself why did someone, Forbes in this case, have to make the effort to set straight the details of Tesla vs. Edison when they are general knowledge to begin with. Why did that misleading poster promoting Tesla go viral? Its because details rarely matter. What matters is what Tesla and Edison represent - Edison is seen as rich and powerful while Tesla is the viewed as lost soul whose sole vice was science. Tesla died alone and still in-debt. This fuels our current perception of a true scientist/engineer/maker, unadulterated by desire except for truth that is science. He is an inspiration. Edison's practicality and willingness to use business (as a tool) to promote his work is not viewed kindly by posterity. Edison was also a great inventor but falls short, at least in our eyes, when contrasted against Tesla. Where did his practicality to invent of people rather than science come from? His first patent, an electronic voting machine, did not sell (because, I THINK, they could not fudge the numbers with it). So he resolved to only work on things that people want. And thats really all there is to it. It really boils down to one question: why didn't Dennis Ritchie achieve greater fame and money than earned by Steve Jobs? "Thats the way the world works" or any variant thereof is not an acceptable answer.
wissler 14y ago
The author doesn't take the genius and import of the AC motor seriously, therefore I can't take him seriously. There are relatively few authentic geniuses in history; people who provide crucial fundamental insight that others just can't. Issac Newton was one. Euler was one. Tesla was one.
- wissler 14y ago
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tall_poppy_syndrome http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tall_poppy_syndrome
damm 14y ago
It sounds like someone should re-read the history books that were not written by Edison. No Tesla wasn't a god, but the fact that most of Tesla's inventions still power your life in a lot of aspects should tell you how awesome the man is. Judge a man by his work, not by his rhetoric
moylan 14y ago
if it was just a grudge match between tesla and edison i could respect edison a little more. it is possible to get so obsessed that he would have a blind spot and go out of his way to engage a competitor. think steve jobs promising to go nuclear on android. but edison went out of his way to profit from the work of Georges Méliès. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Trip_to_the_Moon#Distribution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Trip_to_the_Moon#Distributio...
zotz 14y ago
Tesla was far smarter than Edison was. Tesla's biggest mistake was allowing himself to work for JP Morgan. Morgan didn't want that wireless junk ("Where do you put the meter?") and was happy to let Tesla work himself into obscurity while the metered, wired system we know today was put into place. Tesla became aware of the position he had placed himself in and his work became focused on leaving his research to us, the future. I hope we listen because he knew what he was doing.
- derleth 14y ago
  > Morgan didn't want that wireless junk Good for him: It's physically impossible.
  - zotz 14y ago
    You've read enough of Tesla's diaries to know that?
    - derleth 14y ago
      > You've read enough of Tesla's diaries to know that? I know enough physics to know that. Tesla's diaries are irrelevant.
      - zotz 14y ago
        Marin Soljačić might disagree. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marin_Soljačić http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marin_Soljačić
        derleth 14y ago
        I'm sure he wouldn't: There's a reason his work is completely different from Tesla's. And our discussion is about Tesla's broadcast power ideas. Bringing in a completely different concept is dishonest.
        14y ago
MaysonL 14y ago
And Forbes isn't the Bible, even if they think they are.
joe_the_user 14y ago
When I was a lazy, precocious child, I had my mother and experimental scientist father each repeat Thomas Edison's "My genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration", over and over again. If other geeks are like me, they probably grew up hating Edison's guts. It might not be true but I can understand the impulse to come to the conclusion that Edison was evil and the inspired Tesla was good. Some math geeok have enjoyed calling Évariste Galois a "hero of the revolution", bringing mathematics to the people. It's a nice myth but like the myth of Tesla, probably not quite the full story. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89variste_Galois http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89variste_Galois
- sliverstorm 14y ago
  I always thought the vilification of Edison was pretty ridiculous, myself. For heaven's sake, if nothing else respect the man for the work he put into giving us the light bulb.
  - Ygg2 14y ago
    It's true he did a great number of things, but let's not forget this guy wasn't really a saint either: Tesla claimed he could redesign Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. According to Tesla, Edison remarked "There's fifty thousand dollars in it for you - if you can do it".[36] This has been noted as an odd statement from an Edison whose company was stingy with pay and did not have that sort of cash on hand.[37] After months of work when Tesla finished the task and inquired about payment Edison claimed he was only joking replying, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor".[38][39] Edison offered a $10 a week raise over Tesla's US$18 per week salary, but Tesla refused it and immediately resigned.[36] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla#Working_for_Edison_in_France_and_the_U.S http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla#Working_for_Edison... So, yeah he does sound like a CEO
- JoeCamel 14y ago
  Yes, Galois is also a great example of fictionalization. "Genius and Biographers: The Fictionalization of Evariste Galois" http://www.physics.princeton.edu/~trothman/galois.html http://www.physics.princeton.edu/~trothman/galois.html
xer0x 14y ago
Won't read. Disagree with title.
sleighboy 14y ago
Best Tesla reading I've found is Mark Seifer's book "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". The audio book is excellent as well. Gives great insight into Tesla's personality and many events in history and the people around him.
JoeCamel 14y ago
Maybe this awesome illustration by Travis Pitts gives a good picture of how people see Tesla http://www.flickr.com/photos/zom-bot/7227505456/sizes/o/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/zom-bot/7227505456/sizes/o/in/p... :)
nikcub 14y ago
If the common opinion is here: . and you want it to be here: . sometimes you have to pull this hard: .
Foomandoonian 14y ago
This seemed relevant: http://unfunnythings.tumblr.com/post/1312737586/theoatmeal http://unfunnythings.tumblr.com/post/1312737586/theoatmeal
mcguire 14y ago
"This was the fate of a lot of brilliant researchers in the early days of radiation. Like Marie and Pierre Curie, for example." That's funny. I didn't know Pierre had any long-term, serious problems with radiation. I thought he got run over before the symptoms started showing up.
joelrunyon 14y ago
The Oatmeal wrote a response to the Forbes article here --> http://theoatmeal.com/blog/tesla_response http://theoatmeal.com/blog/tesla_response

325 points by timf 14y ago

Interesting, if only because I've always been fascinated by the time period and events surrounding the adoption of electricity. A really interesting book about Edison and Tesla is "Empires of Light" by Jill Jones.

Porter_423 14y ago

If there’s one thing I would severely criticize Edison and his company for, it was how they handled the patents for technology used in shooting and showing film. They had some weird idea that film was fundamentally something that should only be used for “shorts”, and so they were in constant conflict with unauthorized movie-makers and cinemas (one of the reasons why Hollywood came to be a major film production spot was because it was a relatively quiet place very far from New York City, an Edison stronghold).

felipemnoa 14y ago

>>What’s more, Edison was haunted by Dally’s death to the end of his days. It agonized him. While Dally was alive and suffering, Edison kept him on the payroll and took care of all of his expenses until the day he died. In the early 20th Century, let me assure you that keeping employees on the payroll who couldn’t work was not a common practice. << I read in one of his biographies that in the latter years he kept a lot of employees, against his son's wishes, who were basically doing nothing for sentimental reasons because they had been with him in the early days.

miahi 14y ago
It's called equity now.

neya 14y ago

Edison always reminds me of Steve Jobs. EDIT: 1)Mocking existing/others' technologies/inventions just to claim theirs is better, even while its not. 2)Marketing skills 3)Focused on sales. Sorry for upsetting you, fanboys ;)

debacle 14y ago
Of who?
- raju 14y ago
  I think he means Steve Jobs
  - neya 14y ago
    Yep. I did. Thanks. Looks like I've upset some fanboys with my comment. ;)
    - 1123581321 14y ago
      I didn't downvote you and I agree in some ways with you, but your comment didn't really say anything. Perhaps you could edit it to point out some of the similarities you notice.
      - neya 14y ago
        Thanks, I've edited my original comment to reflect my reasons. Have a great day!
eevilspock 14y ago
No, he's more like Bill Gates. Tesla/Jobs are driven by a desire to change the world. Edison/Gates by the desire to own the world. You can see the difference in all the decisions Apple made in its history, often making choices of design purity over market dominance. It ultimately dominated by sticking to its design principles, showing that sometimes the long-view wins. I think Tesla would have thrived if he could have gone to Jobs instead of Edison for support.
- neya 14y ago
  First of all, I don't want to land up in a Bill Gates vs Steve Jobs argument. I strongly believe both have done remarkable things in different ways. Second, please stop claiming "Jobs has changed/has a desire to change the world". For America, it maybe true, but not for the rest of 'THE WORLD'. Nokia/Samsung/etc still lead the sales in Asian countries, for instance. Third, I 'personally' think its a good thing that Tesla didn't meet Steve J. Well, look at what XEROX is now. That is all I can say.

madiator 14y ago

Oatmeal's tactic to go viral was simple: create a good looking comic and express an extreme view, one that moves you psychologically and you think, "wow is that true? I didn't know that and I bet none of my friends do". Well played Oatmeal.

Agathos 14y ago
A good cartoon is better propaganda than a pure-text rant. It's been true for centuries.
vermontdevil 14y ago
I believe Oatmeal likes to draw comics to generate traffic from Reddit. Not always but seems to be that way. Since Tesla is well-loved on Reddit, it's logical he would do this to get all the clicks.
mcantelon 14y ago
Oatmeal reminds me of Coding Horror: usually unoriginal, but adept at packaging content in a way that generates widespread appeal.
ArcticCelt 14y ago
Extreme view in the outside world but very common view in the tech geek culture. I've seen countless of times this rambling about Edison evilness vs Tesla misunderstood semi god status. The Oatmeal always run with something already popular to the crowd that frequent reddit and the likes.

ralfd 14y ago

I long waited for something like that. Good summary in the forbes article and even better links to other authors. The hive minds opinions (reddit cough) regarding Edison/Tesla always reminded me a bit on the absurd "Moon landing history theme ride" in Futurama or the UN-Dinosaur-War-against-Nazis in "Idiocracy".

kenamarit 14y ago

I liked the play-by-play refutation of the comic, he really researched the whole thing (so I didn't have to). I learned some new things! I enjoyed the tone of the comic, however, even if it was inaccurate or disputable or at times just plain wrong. For me, Edison is one of those figures, like Christopher Columbus, or George Washington, that you learn about every single year growing up, since kindergarten, and whose myth is so grand and ubiquitous that every teacher I had from elementary school up until junior year physics said the exact same thing about him. Tesla was just another of a dozen names in the textbook. So in a way I understand the sentiment. You grow up being told that this is guy, Edison, is the most awesome inventor in the history of America. And because of that I always felt a certain distrust about his accomplishments (even if I'm wrong), because so much of what my teachers taught me growing up turned out to be wrong.

debacle 14y ago
We all stand on the shoulders of giants. Edison was no different.
theorique 14y ago
I agree - that smart-ass tone for me was the fun thing as well. Edison, as a larger than life figure in the past 100 years seems to be untouchable. The Oatmeal comic was a rush because I was thinking "you can't say those things about Edison". Of course, the real story is more complex than either hagiography.
agwa 14y ago
> So in a way I understand the sentiment. Yeah, but isn't what The Oatmeal did just as bad as what grade school teachers do? If we go from "Edison is the most awesome inventor in the history of America" to "Edison is the biggest asshat in the history of America," we've gained absolutely no honesty in our discourse. The Forbes article was nuanced and factually correct, which is what we should be striving for.
sliverstorm 14y ago
You grow up being told that this is guy, Edison, is the most awesome inventor in the history of America. Well, consider this. Let's suppose Tesla was actually the most awesome inventor, and Edison was second. Which do you want to show children? The one who was a genius, or the one who made no bones about the fact that hard work was the main ingredient to his success? In other words, do we teach children that being smart is important, or do we teach them that hard work is important?

j45 14y ago

I can't understand why the writer is reacting so much to the comic. Sure, it uses blunt language, but is the writer related to Edison distantly or his childhood hero or something? Unlimited wireless electricity, among other Tesla's inventions are still mind boggling 100 years later. He drove a car with an electric engine, powered wirelessly, over 100 years ago.* What have we done since? From a more day to day perspective: - Marconi's patents for inventing radio were overturned in Tesla's prior invention of radio. - Inventor of Lasers - Remote Control I think we've gotten over the light bulb. Still, the disposable lightbulb sells and sells, a testament to Edison's business mind. Based on the number, and staggering impact of each of Tesla's inventions, I don't believe Edison could spell Tesla on his best day; especially where it camee to innovation and creating things that hadn't existed before, let alone imagined. The main question about Edison vs Tesla is, why no one knows who Tesla is even though he was at least an equal to Edison, if not arguably more. * There's some argument about this occurring but there are also media reports that exist.

silverdrake11 14y ago
The electric car story appears to be an urban legend: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_electric_car http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_electric_car
- tedunangst 14y ago
  That Wikipedia page is obviously the work of an Edison fanboy. Or some electric industry astroturfer covering up the truth about unlimited free energy from space.
- j45 14y ago
  FWIW, about half way down right before the first map: http://www.tfcbooks.com/teslafaq/q&a_016.htm http://www.tfcbooks.com/teslafaq/q&a_016.htm "An article appearing in the New York Daily News, April 2, 1934 titled "Tesla's Wireless Power Dream Nears Reality" mentions the planned "test run of a motor car [for a distance of 30 or 40 miles] over a stretch of [Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe] railway track [running from Boise City, Oklahoma] to Farley, N. M." using wireless transmission of electrical energy to power the vehicle. The equipment was assembled by "two Californians" and is described as "including a high-powered radio transmitter with big coils and and short antenna."

kylemaxwell 14y ago

I'm glad the writer enjoyed taking the piss out of The Oatmeal, but serious articles responding to a mostly-tongue-in-cheek webcomic seem to have missed the point. I wonder if he'll write an article next about how working from home doesn't actually destroy our abilities of communication and continence.

kevinchen 14y ago
Right, but while it is clear that the comic about working from home was for humor, some people have taken the comic about Tesla vs Edison as fact.
- babarock 14y ago
  I think the "cult of Tesla" preceded the comic. It seems to me like conspiracy theorists particularly affectionate this story, for some reason. I guess that the author was simply refuting the comic as the latest manifestation of an annoying trend.
  - Ygg2 14y ago
    You don't know the half of it. I actually have a biography of Tesla where it says he could generate earthquakes, extract free energy from space and whatnot... And my suspension of belief cracks. Perhaps he really could do some of the amazing thing he claimed but talking to aliens and pigeons that had laser eyes? I dunno maybe he was a wee bit unstable.
ForrestN 14y ago
Really? I don't quite understand how you're using "tongue-in-cheek" here, but I didn't take the article to be sarcastic at all. I'm not an avid reader of the comic, but it reads to me like someone who's a passionate fan of Tesla, making a sincere argument for Tesla's importance relative to Edison (and further, making an argument against revering Edison at all), and then going so far as to thank him. I don't know enough about it to have a position on who's more correct, but the fact that it's a webcomic, and therefor somehow "unserious," doesn't imply that the author doesn't believe what he's saying. If the point is being missed, if it's not that Tesla is an overlooked genius who deserved, and deserves, more admiration, what is the point, exactly?

dmor 14y ago

There is a great biography of Edison which was very eye opening to me - I did not realize how many patents he held or how many other inventions and innovations on other work he had made beyond the longer burning commercial lightbulb. http://refer.ly/a09m http://refer.ly/a09m Just in case you don't read the book, there is a story where they first got the lightbulb to burn for a long time... I think it was 30-something hours. And they just stayed awake sitting there in amazement watching it burn until it burned out. I feel like that awe is so in the spirit of today's modern startups when we first launch or discover something. When they "launched" the new lightbulb they strung them up all over the yard of Edison's house, and people came driving up at night for the event and it was like magic. I would give anything to have seen that. I think its really cool that he improved on other people's inventions, helping make things like the telegraph and typewriter into practical, affordable, useful tools that lots of people could buy. That might not be as grand as making brand new things, but it has a huge impact on human life. He also created the phonograph, the first idea of "records" (wax scrolls) and did a ton of work on early motion pictures. The list just goes on and on, learn about him, you'll be surprised to find that what they taught you in school was just surface-level and there is really so much more there.

eevilspock 14y ago

Tesla vs Edison is my favorite Drunk History: http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/ef668caf14/drunk-history-vol-6-w-john-c-reilly-crispin-glover http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/ef668caf14/drunk-history-vo... Duncan Trussell clearly disagrees with the OP. In other words, the OP is anti-oatmeal and anti-booze. What is wrong with him?

adviceonly 14y ago
Edison may not have electrocuted the animals in the video, but he fried an elephant with AC: http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/01/dayintech_0104 http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/01/dayint...

redwood 14y ago

Little story: So I walk into a bar in Belgrade, Serbia. Turns out to be a private party, lot's of drinking and merry-ment but my girl and I felt a bit out of place. Just before we turned for the door a man pulled me by the shoulder to the bar and started asking what we were doing there, real intimidating-like. He said we could have drinks on him but I felt a little like we didn't want to be indebted to this guy. On the other hand I felt I had no choice. He had asked me what I'd studied and I mentioned physics. He got the bar-tenders attention, got me a drink, and asked me "so... you say you know something about physics... tell me: 'what nationality was Nikola Tesla?'" I responded "Croatian" of course. Suddenly the faces of the man, the bartender, and (so it seemed) the rest of the bar too went very gloomy, eyes piercing into me like shots of raiki (the liquor they drink). I learned that night that the Serbs claim Tesla was a Serbian who lived in Croatia. The Croatians and Serbs (who hate each other very much) both claim him as their national heros. Lessons: - if you're in Serbia, Tesla was a Serbian (and a god) - if you're in Croatia, Tesla was a Croatian (and a god) - if you're anywhere else, well I guess now I know he wasn't god

alushta 14y ago
Well, Tesla really was a Serbian - his father was in fact, a Serbian Orthodox priest, so the documentation on this is clear. Of course, since he was born into the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and studied in Graz, we might as well let the Austrians take credit, as the Austrians really need it (what's Austria's greatest accomplishment? convincing the world that Mozart is Austrian, and Hitler is German!) But really, he did his best work as an American, so USA! USA! USA! :)
- surement 14y ago
  Freud?
  - alushta 14y ago
    Nah, Freud is a Galician Jew, not an Austrian. :)
- JumpCrisscross 14y ago

lordlicorice 14y ago

> Is it possible – just possible – that Edison honestly believed that AC was dangerous and honestly did not think it should be use? This strikes me as pretty naive. Edison had the patents that effectively controlled the market for DC electricity. He would have been a Carnegie or a Rockefeller had DC been adopted. He had such an extreme conflict of interest that it's unreasonable to assume good faith.

dimitar 14y ago
DC power distribution. In the beginning DC dominated because of technical reasons. Efficient AC motors and generators were just getting invented eand transformers weren't that good. And for various reasons some applications still use DC motors - for example only in robotics, servomotors; but consider that in the last 20 years do things like air-conditioners and elevators start to use AC motors (because of the efficiency made possible with solid-state inverters).
- nextparadigms 14y ago
  It sounds like AC disrupted the DC market. Sounds perfectly reasonable to me that Edison didn't want to be disrupted and took legal action, not unlike how it happens today in many industries.
  - luriel 14y ago
    Another example of how patents actually hinder and harm innovation. Which is not surprising when you start to think of them as government granted monopolies.
- jules 14y ago
  Interesting tidbit: Modern long distance underseas power transmission is DC again (because it's more efficient, among other reasons). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-voltage_direct_current http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-voltage_direct_current
bshanks 14y ago

namank 14y ago

I'm glad a publication like Forbes is picking up on such internet phenomenon and setting things straight. We need this more than ever. This is not much different than Steve Jobs vs. Dennis Ritchie.

nodemaker 14y ago
This could not be further from Steve Jobs vs Dennis Ritchie. In fact there is no Steve Jobs vs Dennis Ritchie.Tesla vs Edison however was very real.
- namank 14y ago
  There will be in about 25 years. Beginnings of which have already been pointed out by that Facebook picture that went viral, the one that tries to contrast their contributions and their fame.
  - unimpressive 14y ago
    This is even more ridiculous than Tesla vs. Edison, because Ritchie and Jobs had almost nothing to do with each other. Their only real relation is that they died in the same month. The viral facebook picture you cite is comparable to one saying that Ritchie was just stealing the innovations of Turing. Or that Ritchie was just a thief of the game changing ideas of John Backus. At least Tesla and Edison were working in the same space at the same time frame on similar problems.
    - zotz 14y ago
      Tesla used to work for Edison.
    - namank 14y ago
      1. They both worked in tech. 2. Think of the comparison as Engineer vs. Designer/Inventor(because this IS the legacy of Steve Jobs when looked at as a role model). 3. If you're REALLY hard pressed for details then...iOS is a descendent of Unix. Everything Apple runs on C. I can appreciate why it could be difficult to abstract the two men to the level at which I make the comparison. But you must ask yourself why did someone, Forbes in this case, have to make the effort to set straight the details of Tesla vs. Edison when they are general knowledge to begin with. Why did that misleading poster promoting Tesla go viral? Its because details rarely matter. What matters is what Tesla and Edison represent - Edison is seen as rich and powerful while Tesla is the viewed as lost soul whose sole vice was science. Tesla died alone and still in-debt. This fuels our current perception of a true scientist/engineer/maker, unadulterated by desire except for truth that is science. He is an inspiration. Edison's practicality and willingness to use business (as a tool) to promote his work is not viewed kindly by posterity. Edison was also a great inventor but falls short, at least in our eyes, when contrasted against Tesla. Where did his practicality to invent of people rather than science come from? His first patent, an electronic voting machine, did not sell (because, I THINK, they could not fudge the numbers with it). So he resolved to only work on things that people want. And thats really all there is to it. It really boils down to one question: why didn't Dennis Ritchie achieve greater fame and money than earned by Steve Jobs? "Thats the way the world works" or any variant thereof is not an acceptable answer.

wissler 14y ago

The author doesn't take the genius and import of the AC motor seriously, therefore I can't take him seriously. There are relatively few authentic geniuses in history; people who provide crucial fundamental insight that others just can't. Issac Newton was one. Euler was one. Tesla was one.

wissler 14y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tall_poppy_syndrome http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tall_poppy_syndrome

damm 14y ago

It sounds like someone should re-read the history books that were not written by Edison. No Tesla wasn't a god, but the fact that most of Tesla's inventions still power your life in a lot of aspects should tell you how awesome the man is. Judge a man by his work, not by his rhetoric

moylan 14y ago

if it was just a grudge match between tesla and edison i could respect edison a little more. it is possible to get so obsessed that he would have a blind spot and go out of his way to engage a competitor. think steve jobs promising to go nuclear on android. but edison went out of his way to profit from the work of Georges Méliès. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Trip_to_the_Moon#Distribution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Trip_to_the_Moon#Distributio...

zotz 14y ago

Tesla was far smarter than Edison was. Tesla's biggest mistake was allowing himself to work for JP Morgan. Morgan didn't want that wireless junk ("Where do you put the meter?") and was happy to let Tesla work himself into obscurity while the metered, wired system we know today was put into place. Tesla became aware of the position he had placed himself in and his work became focused on leaving his research to us, the future. I hope we listen because he knew what he was doing.

derleth 14y ago
> Morgan didn't want that wireless junk Good for him: It's physically impossible.
- zotz 14y ago
  You've read enough of Tesla's diaries to know that?
  - derleth 14y ago
    > You've read enough of Tesla's diaries to know that? I know enough physics to know that. Tesla's diaries are irrelevant.
    - zotz 14y ago
      Marin Soljačić might disagree. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marin_Soljačić http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marin_Soljačić
      - derleth 14y ago
        I'm sure he wouldn't: There's a reason his work is completely different from Tesla's. And our discussion is about Tesla's broadcast power ideas. Bringing in a completely different concept is dishonest.
        14y ago

MaysonL 14y ago

And Forbes isn't the Bible, even if they think they are.

joe_the_user 14y ago

When I was a lazy, precocious child, I had my mother and experimental scientist father each repeat Thomas Edison's "My genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration", over and over again. If other geeks are like me, they probably grew up hating Edison's guts. It might not be true but I can understand the impulse to come to the conclusion that Edison was evil and the inspired Tesla was good. Some math geeok have enjoyed calling Évariste Galois a "hero of the revolution", bringing mathematics to the people. It's a nice myth but like the myth of Tesla, probably not quite the full story. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89variste_Galois http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89variste_Galois

sliverstorm 14y ago
I always thought the vilification of Edison was pretty ridiculous, myself. For heaven's sake, if nothing else respect the man for the work he put into giving us the light bulb.
- Ygg2 14y ago
  It's true he did a great number of things, but let's not forget this guy wasn't really a saint either: Tesla claimed he could redesign Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. According to Tesla, Edison remarked "There's fifty thousand dollars in it for you - if you can do it".[36] This has been noted as an odd statement from an Edison whose company was stingy with pay and did not have that sort of cash on hand.[37] After months of work when Tesla finished the task and inquired about payment Edison claimed he was only joking replying, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor".[38][39] Edison offered a $10 a week raise over Tesla's US$18 per week salary, but Tesla refused it and immediately resigned.[36] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla#Working_for_Edison_in_France_and_the_U.S http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla#Working_for_Edison... So, yeah he does sound like a CEO
JoeCamel 14y ago
Yes, Galois is also a great example of fictionalization. "Genius and Biographers: The Fictionalization of Evariste Galois" http://www.physics.princeton.edu/~trothman/galois.html http://www.physics.princeton.edu/~trothman/galois.html

xer0x 14y ago

Won't read. Disagree with title.

sleighboy 14y ago

Best Tesla reading I've found is Mark Seifer's book "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". The audio book is excellent as well. Gives great insight into Tesla's personality and many events in history and the people around him.

JoeCamel 14y ago

Maybe this awesome illustration by Travis Pitts gives a good picture of how people see Tesla http://www.flickr.com/photos/zom-bot/7227505456/sizes/o/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/zom-bot/7227505456/sizes/o/in/p... :)

nikcub 14y ago

If the common opinion is here: . and you want it to be here: . sometimes you have to pull this hard: .

Foomandoonian 14y ago

This seemed relevant: http://unfunnythings.tumblr.com/post/1312737586/theoatmeal http://unfunnythings.tumblr.com/post/1312737586/theoatmeal

mcguire 14y ago

"This was the fate of a lot of brilliant researchers in the early days of radiation. Like Marie and Pierre Curie, for example." That's funny. I didn't know Pierre had any long-term, serious problems with radiation. I thought he got run over before the symptoms started showing up.

joelrunyon 14y ago

The Oatmeal wrote a response to the Forbes article here --> http://theoatmeal.com/blog/tesla_response http://theoatmeal.com/blog/tesla_response