December 12, 2011
The Problem With Eureka
First one with a press release wins the fellowship! But this isn’t news, this competitive marketplace of ideas. A hundred years ago, we have the sad case of Nicola Tesla entwined with the epic success story of Thomas Edison.
Tesla was brilliant and innovative in a way very few men have ever been or ever will be. Then Edison started doing shocking things like electrocuting elephants (how horrible: both that pun and the elephant murder) to show how dangerous Tesla’s flavor of electricity (alternating current) was. Tesla died alone in a dingy hotel room, with not a penny to his name. Edison died with over 1000 patents to his.
This quote is a good reminder that an idea not shared is just an idea that someone else will take credit for. Great minds often think alike, unfortunately.
(c) Jessica Hagy, 2011
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Tesla was more than a failed inventor. Besides creating the system for alternating current, inventing radio, robotics and hundreds of other things, he pioneered the concept of broadcasting electricity. He proved it could be done around 1900, then was cut off from his funding by J.P. Morgan, who backed Marconi in his appropriation of Tesla’s concepts for radio transmission.
But Tesla has the last laugh as we still use his system globally and his technology offers a means to broadcast clean power from solar panels in earth orbit. Much needs to be done from an engineering standpoint, but Tesla is still very relevant as we try to save our civilization from the scourges of carbon-based perils.
Comment by John Wasik — December 20, 2011 @ 6:14 pm