Fnord wrote:
Tesla was a genius, yet he gave away his ideas.
Edison was a businessman and a genius. He patented his ideas.
Who's the better person? Neither -- they're both dead.
Who was the better scientist? Debatable.
Who was the better inventor? Edison, by far. His inventions were both practical and popular. Tesla's inventions -- while magnificent -- are now mostly laboratory curiosities. No death rays, no earthquake devices, no global broadcast power transmitters.
Yes, I built my own Tesla coil. I also have a van de Graf generator. But the clincher is that my home receives its electricity over power lines, powering incandescent filament lamps, both of which were Edison developments.
Why is it that a man who becomes wealthy through his own labors (and the labors of his employees) while providing practical solutions is vilified, yet the person who can't exploit his own discoveries enough to feed himself is somehow an 'unsung hero'?
Well, let's see... Tesla discovered how to transmit electricity from one place to another with zero wires. The trouble is, the guy who funded tesla was also big into making copper wire, so he cut tesla's funding. Why? Because the man would have had a lot of money to lose if he'd allow tesla to complete his work. He wouldn't be able to convince people to spend money on all that goddamn copper wire that runs across the globe.
Also, I'm pretty sure tesla invented the fluorescent bulb back before edison came up with his incandescent bulb. One got used, and one didn't. That doesn't mean that the one that got used was superior. What it means is that the guy who made it didn't step on any toes in the process, and/or that he had more/better funding, or better advertising. That, and shooting lightning bolts thru the air probably scared people at the time.
09 Oct 2012, 12:56 am
