Today is the birthday of Nikola Tesla. If you like electricity and/or gadgets you owe the man a tip of the hat.
From Wikipedia:
“Aside from his work on electromagnetism and engineering [he invented alternating current], Tesla is said to have contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar and computer science and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio.”
Not bad. Also, take that Marconi.
Tesla is perhaps best remembered for his rivalry with Thomas Edison. Thomas Edison was a proponent of direct current electricity, which was the direct competitor to alternating current electricity. Accounts of the shenanigans that occurred trying to prove one was better than the other are pretty astounding, which can also be read, Edison electrocuted dogs. For the record, today your house uses alternating current, but I still encourage the electrocution of household pets.
From Wikipedia:
“Aside from his work on electromagnetism and engineering [he invented alternating current], Tesla is said to have contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar and computer science and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio.”
Not bad. Also, take that Marconi.
Tesla is perhaps best remembered for his rivalry with Thomas Edison. Thomas Edison was a proponent of direct current electricity, which was the direct competitor to alternating current electricity. Accounts of the shenanigans that occurred trying to prove one was better than the other are pretty astounding, which can also be read, Edison electrocuted dogs. For the record, today your house uses alternating current, but I still encourage the electrocution of household pets.
Tesla submitted the lone negative opinion of Edison to the New York Times the day after Edison died.
“He had no hobby, cared for no sort of amusement of any kind and lived in utter disregard of the most elementary rules of hygiene... His method was inefficient in the extreme, for an immense ground had to be covered to get anything at all unless blind chance intervened and, at first, I was almost a sorry witness of his doings, knowing that just a little theory and calculation would have saved him 90 per cent of the labor. But he had a veritable contempt for book learning and mathematical knowledge, trusting himself entirely to his inventor's instinct and practical American sense.”
Awesome.
“He had no hobby, cared for no sort of amusement of any kind and lived in utter disregard of the most elementary rules of hygiene... His method was inefficient in the extreme, for an immense ground had to be covered to get anything at all unless blind chance intervened and, at first, I was almost a sorry witness of his doings, knowing that just a little theory and calculation would have saved him 90 per cent of the labor. But he had a veritable contempt for book learning and mathematical knowledge, trusting himself entirely to his inventor's instinct and practical American sense.”
Awesome.
Do I need to mention our man had a touch of the OCD? Hurray for eccentric scientist!
3 comments:
Tesla's cat Macak even earned a spot in Mental Floss' 10 Cats Who Changed Civilization.
Have you read/seen The Prestige? Both a good book and good movie with Tesla as a character. I remember him bitching about Edison in both, I believe.
I’ve seen the movie and I like it. I thought David Bowie did a good job playing Tesla.
In real life, Tesla actually worked for Edison. He started working in one of the Edison Company’s European branches then transferred over to the US. Tesla more or less actually offered Edison alternating current, but Edison wanted no part of it.
Eventually Tesla started his own competing power company in New York.
Tesla fun fact: Tesla actually gave up his royalties on alternating current so Westinghouse would not go out of business. Westinghouse was a proponent of alternating current but creditors considered the royalties to be a liability to further investing in Westinghouse and alternating current. I believe Tesla was supposed to receive royalties per kilowatt hour produced. This would have made him the world’s first billionaire.
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