i hate to burst yer bubble but i doubt most people know who he is or what he has invented.
i remembered that band Tesla and something about the song Man ouf of Time. i knew that he invented the radio but didn't realize he invented AC.
i was reading about him cause Myth Busters was trying to make an earth quake machine of his. i hadn't thought of him for a long time and decided to look into it.
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08:35 PM
Firefighter Member
Posts: 1407 From: Southold, New York, USA Registered: Nov 2004
I think that new all electric sports car is named after him. The new one that goes from 0-60 in about 3.5 seconds. He was a genius, but few people remember anyone but Thomas Edison during the infancy of the then electric gadgets. I believe Tesla invented the science behind alternating current as it is today. Ed
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08:40 PM
Patrick Member
Posts: 36403 From: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Registered: Apr 99
i hate to burst yer bubble but i doubt most people know who he is or what he has invented.
Do you really think it bursts my bubble if Joe Average has never heard of this man? Sure, he probably never caught a football, and I doubt he danced very well, but educated people have been aware (and in awe) of Nikola Tesla for over a hundred years.
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08:47 PM
PFF
System Bot
ryan.hess Member
Posts: 20784 From: Orlando, FL Registered: Dec 2002
Do you really think it bursts my bubble if Joe Average has never heard of this man? Sure, he probably never caught a football, and I doubt he danced very well, but educated people have been aware (and in awe) of Nikola Tesla for over a hundred years.
it wasn't meant as a personal attack. just a statement that if i went out and asked 10 people who Tesla was or what he invented i doubt that 9 would know.
i really didn't know until i started reading about him. now with what you all have provided me i will know more.
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09:02 PM
84fiero123 Member
Posts: 29950 From: farmington, maine usa Registered: Oct 2004
it wasn't meant as a personal attack. just a statement that if i went out and asked 10 people who Tesla was or what he invented i doubt that 9 would know.
i really didn't know until i started reading about him. now with what you all have provided me i will know more.
Ever watch Jay Leno’s Jay walking?
The average college student in this country today don’t even know who the first president.
The young people of this country need to live and learn.
Yes I know who he was, just because of the coil.
I just think we need to be just a little more intelligent in the world today, this is a prime example of the stupidity of youth.
------------------ technology is great when it works and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't. Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.
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10:17 PM
yosemitefieros Member
Posts: 371 From: North Fork, CA Registered: May 2003
Tesla was brilliant. AC was so far ahead of DC in the transferrence of electricity over long distances that even Edison finally had to go to it when George Westinghouse used Tesla and his designs to take business away from Edison electric.
There is an interesting 'myth' that the huge explosion in Siberia happened at the exact day and time as the supposed testing of Tesla's 'death ray'... What if...
Gary
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10:51 PM
litespd Member
Posts: 8128 From: No where you want to be Registered: Aug 99
Rockcrawl had an interest in Tesla coils. He has a section on his webpage, fieroaddiction.com about a Tesla coil he and a friend built. However, there are no pictures there now, but I seem to remember seeing some at one time.
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11:10 PM
Sep 4th, 2006
Flamberge Member
Posts: 4268 From: Terra Sancta, TX Registered: Oct 2001
Edison wanted to try to show the "dangers" of the enwly invented AC, and started electrocuting animals with it, including an elephant.
The Birth of Electrocution DC service depended on thick copper electrical cables, copper prices were rising at that time, DC service was limited by not being able to supply customers who lived beyond a few miles of a DC generator. Thomas Edison reacted to the competition and the prospect of losing to AC service by starting a smear campaign against Westinghouse, claiming that AC technology was unsafe to use. In 1887, Edison held a public demonstration in West Orange, New Jersey, supporting his accusations by setting up a 1,000 volt Westinghouse AC generator attaching it to a metal plate and executing a dozen animals by placing the poor creatures on the electrified metal plate. The press had a field day describing the horrific event and the new term " electrocution " was used to describe death by electricity.
Wow. One of the great inventors in the history of our world, an "overrated ass."
Hopefully you're kidding.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edison Edison did not invent the first electric light bulb, but instead invented the first commercially practical incandescent light. Several designs had already been developed by earlier inventors including the patent he purchased from Henry Woodward and Mathew Evans, Moses G. Farmer,[4] Joseph Swan, James Bowman Lindsay, William Sawyer, Humphry Davy, and Heinrich Göbel. Edison took the features of these earlier designs and set his workers to the task of creating longer-lasting bulbs.
Although in his early years Edison worked alone, he built up a research and development team to a considerable number while at his Menlo Park research laboratory. This large research group, which included engineers and other workers, often based their research on work done by others before them, as is true of all research and development. Some have claimed that when his staff succeeded, he presented the inventions as his own and got the credit for them as they were patented in his name[citation needed]. His staff generally carried out his directions in conducting research, and when he was absent from the lab, the pace of work slowed greatly. Other inventors had demonstrated and patented an incandescent light bulb before Edison, but he is often credited as its inventor, even though a number of employees also worked on the device under his direction. His was the first incandescent light bulb with high resistance, a small radiating area, and a commercially useful lifetime. Other critics have claimed that he put obstacles in the way of his competitors, and used other methods which were ethically questionable, even if their technology was superior to what was created by his own workers.
Another criticism of Edison is due to his battle with Nikola Tesla over DC and AC power. Edison tried to convince people to use his DC power by arguing that it was safer than Westinghouse's AC power. He accompanied these claims of danger by electrocuting cats, dogs and even elephants. He famously electrocuted Topsy the Elephant in 1903. He also said that the electrocuted animals were being 'Westinghoused' while being electrocuted by the AC power. Edison eventually lost the battle because AC power is easily stepped up to high voltage for long distance transmission and then stepped down for local distribution and further stepped down to the end use voltage at a home or business. Ironically, high voltage DC is now commonly used for long distance high voltage power transmission, and converted to AC by electronic valves.
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08:00 AM
Raydar Member
Posts: 40727 From: Carrollton GA. Out in the... country. Registered: Oct 1999
Originally posted by Gokart Mozart: ...Ironically, high voltage DC is now commonly used for long distance high voltage power transmission, and converted to AC by electronic valves.
This is not accurate. DC isn't any more practical for long distance transmission than it was 100 years ago, for exactly the same reasons. The power companies still use high voltage AC for power transmission. Many of the lines are 500KV (That's a half million volts. AC. Not DC.)
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08:30 AM
Flamberge Member
Posts: 4268 From: Terra Sancta, TX Registered: Oct 2001
Edison did not invent the first electric light bulb, but instead invented the first commercially practical incandescent light.
I didn't say he did. He is credited with tons of patents. Wikipedia isn't the only source of "information" on him. There are many biographies that cover his life and work. I'm not saying he was a saint, but it is somewhat disturbing and a little depressing that we are rethinking his importance to science.
quote
Although in his early years Edison worked alone, he built up a research and development team to a considerable number while at his Menlo Park research laboratory.
This is another argument for Edison. He organized one of the most brilliant think tanks in the world at the time, and collectively they invented A LOT of things we take for granted today. His team got it's own credit, and most of them had many patents from their time at Menlo themselves, so don't think he was just a glory hound.
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Another criticism of Edison is due to his battle with Nikola Tesla over DC and AC power.
What does his battle with Tesla have to really do with anything? Does it reduce him to an overrated ass? I'll start a new thread if I feel the need to respond any more, sorry to hijack the thread, everyone.
Just remember to read and research, and form your own opinion. I've done a lot of research on both men (Edison and Tesla), and I don't claim to be an expert on either one of them. But I do know both made contributions to science and modern life, and Edison, as is his right, deserves to be in the pantheon of brilliant American minds.
Flamberge
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10:30 AM
PFF
System Bot
ryan.hess Member
Posts: 20784 From: Orlando, FL Registered: Dec 2002
What does his battle with Tesla have to really do with anything? Does it reduce him to an overrated ass? I'll start a new thread if I feel the need to respond any more, sorry to hijack the thread, everyone.
Just remember to read and research, and form your own opinion. I've done a lot of research on both men (Edison and Tesla), and I don't claim to be an expert on either one of them. But I do know both made contributions to science and modern life, and Edison, as is his right, deserves to be in the pantheon of brilliant American minds.
Flamberge
Edison was an ass to begin with, the war with Tesla was just another example of that.
Sure he made contributions ( however, if you read closer, he got credit for a lot of things that his workers did ) but that didnt make him a nice guy.
And no, Telsa wasnt the easiest guy in the world to work with either. Few great minds like that are.
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07:38 PM
sostock Member
Posts: 5907 From: Grain Valley, MO Registered: May 2005
You have to watch books about him, many go into the relm of 'anti gravity' and other questionable subjects. Beacuse he was so far advanced he is ( still ) often viewed as a crackpot.
"Lighting in his hand" is one of the best books ive read on him.
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08:29 PM
ryan.hess Member
Posts: 20784 From: Orlando, FL Registered: Dec 2002
Originally posted by Nurb432: Edison was an ass to begin with, the war with Tesla was just another example of that.
Sure he made contributions ( however, if you read closer, he got credit for a lot of things that his workers did ) but that didnt make him a nice guy.
Agreed. Edison was always right no matter how wrong he was. Pushing DC was just an example of that. He steals inventions (in fact, one of Teslas!), tortures animals to prove he's "right" (in fact, DC is more deadly than AC due to the skin effect, although that's slightly less a concern at the frequencies we're talking about), and is a shrewd man who cheated many people.
The above is from my own research looking for information on Tesla (and edison) for the report in the link above.
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08:30 PM
ryan.hess Member
Posts: 20784 From: Orlando, FL Registered: Dec 2002
