Tesla Fact vs. Fiction: Why the Public Perception is Wrong
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Date: 2022-12-27
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Comments and reviews: 20
Мићко
Years ago my Electrical Engineering professor told us that Tesla was not always correct in his assumptions. He was not even reading papers that other engineers of his time wrote. Otherwise, he would realize that long range wireless transmission of electrical current is not possible.
However, content of your videos are portraying Tesla (even with disclaimers) as someone not so important for the technical development of the planet. Yes, he had support of George Westingahouse and J. P. Morgan but they did not discover anything. The AC vs. DC current battle is far more complex. It was not about money only.
However, he did invent radio transmission, not Guglielmo Marconi. After a long legal battle he won the case. However, most of people still do not know that fact. Furthermore, he was the first one who used radio waves to remotely control a submarine; first one to create a good quality X-ray pictures (he called them shadowgraphs) and C. Roentgen wrote in his letter, dated July 20th, 1901, to Tesla the following: Dear Sir! You have surprised me tremendously with the beautiful photographs of wonderful discharges and I tell you thank you very much for that. If only I knew how you make such things! With the expression of special respect I remain yours devoted, W. C. Roentgen. (The Tesla Museum, Belgrade, Serbia; document no. MNT, CXLIV, 152. Tesla, also, can be considered as a pioneer in radiology, since he explained how X-ray pictures can be used as a diagnostic tool.
Therefore, you should also rebut myths with facts that would be in Teslas favour. He had about 300 inventions both in electrical and mechanical engineering and we still use most of them.
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Years ago my Electrical Engineering professor told us that Tesla was not always correct in his assumptions. He was not even reading papers that other engineers of his time wrote. Otherwise, he would realize that long range wireless transmission of electrical current is not possible.
However, content of your videos are portraying Tesla (even with disclaimers) as someone not so important for the technical development of the planet. Yes, he had support of George Westingahouse and J. P. Morgan but they did not discover anything. The AC vs. DC current battle is far more complex. It was not about money only.
However, he did invent radio transmission, not Guglielmo Marconi. After a long legal battle he won the case. However, most of people still do not know that fact. Furthermore, he was the first one who used radio waves to remotely control a submarine; first one to create a good quality X-ray pictures (he called them shadowgraphs) and C. Roentgen wrote in his letter, dated July 20th, 1901, to Tesla the following: Dear Sir! You have surprised me tremendously with the beautiful photographs of wonderful discharges and I tell you thank you very much for that. If only I knew how you make such things! With the expression of special respect I remain yours devoted, W. C. Roentgen. (The Tesla Museum, Belgrade, Serbia; document no. MNT, CXLIV, 152. Tesla, also, can be considered as a pioneer in radiology, since he explained how X-ray pictures can be used as a diagnostic tool.
Therefore, you should also rebut myths with facts that would be in Teslas favour. He had about 300 inventions both in electrical and mechanical engineering and we still use most of them.
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noel
I have been studying tesla for decades reading all the usual biographies and some of his articles and papers to the Electrical engineering journals of the time. He has become a cult figure with conspiracy theorists and there's so much BS on line regarding his inventions and unbuilt and tested devices such as his death ray and Wardencliff transmitting station. It's a shame really that Wardencliff was never finished his Colorado Springs laboratory installation was very small by comparison and tales of its operation are impressive but in reality it was just a huge Tesla coil. Wardencliff would have just been a much larger installation both in dimensions and power output but because it was never completed and tested it has spawned so much misinformation. His seeing a rotation magnetic field in a vision and building a polyphase motor from that seems abit far fetched and theatrical to gain attention. I still respect the man and his genius but not so much many his statements that where unproven in practice or almost useless when tried in practical situations.
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I have been studying tesla for decades reading all the usual biographies and some of his articles and papers to the Electrical engineering journals of the time. He has become a cult figure with conspiracy theorists and there's so much BS on line regarding his inventions and unbuilt and tested devices such as his death ray and Wardencliff transmitting station. It's a shame really that Wardencliff was never finished his Colorado Springs laboratory installation was very small by comparison and tales of its operation are impressive but in reality it was just a huge Tesla coil. Wardencliff would have just been a much larger installation both in dimensions and power output but because it was never completed and tested it has spawned so much misinformation. His seeing a rotation magnetic field in a vision and building a polyphase motor from that seems abit far fetched and theatrical to gain attention. I still respect the man and his genius but not so much many his statements that where unproven in practice or almost useless when tried in practical situations.
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Helen
Thank you so much for this. I am a strange old lady who has had electronics as a hobby for 30 years. I am so tired of youngish men lecturing me on how misunderstood poor brilliant Tesla was. I first heard of Tesla when I was a science oriented high school student in NY state and Con Ed would give lectures and tours of power plants for students. The battle of the currents, the Niagara Falls generating station, and Tesla's roaring eccentricities were highlights often used to make the topics more student friendly. I remember having two free booklets on those subjects that I reread many times. I also had read something on Tesla's thoughts on Einstein's theory of relativity. I had always viewed Tesla as spectacular electrical engineer and a showoff, but pathetically ignorant of theoretical physics. I am so bored with this Tesla mania. Now I am running into weird gizmos being sold that promise to cure AIDs and cancer and sell for thousands of dollars that claim to be based on Tesla's theories. Thank you for trying to get the truth out.
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Thank you so much for this. I am a strange old lady who has had electronics as a hobby for 30 years. I am so tired of youngish men lecturing me on how misunderstood poor brilliant Tesla was. I first heard of Tesla when I was a science oriented high school student in NY state and Con Ed would give lectures and tours of power plants for students. The battle of the currents, the Niagara Falls generating station, and Tesla's roaring eccentricities were highlights often used to make the topics more student friendly. I remember having two free booklets on those subjects that I reread many times. I also had read something on Tesla's thoughts on Einstein's theory of relativity. I had always viewed Tesla as spectacular electrical engineer and a showoff, but pathetically ignorant of theoretical physics. I am so bored with this Tesla mania. Now I am running into weird gizmos being sold that promise to cure AIDs and cancer and sell for thousands of dollars that claim to be based on Tesla's theories. Thank you for trying to get the truth out.
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Business
4: 24 I believe I need to take issue with your conclusion that Tesla. didn't independently invent AC poly-phase current.
Just because 2 people had the same idea and came to the same conculsion at the same time, doesn't mean they didn't do it independently.
I'm an Electronic Engineer and Software engineer with 12 published video games. I can't tell you how many times I've seen code by others that matched the code I wrote. Or the times I've been working on a problem at the same time as others and 2 of us had the exact same idea and execution.
It's more common in the world of electronics, because in software, the possibilities are as boundless as your imagination, in this case, their conclusions are limited by Faraday's law of induction among other things.
It's disingenuous to not give credit to Tesla for independence of thought without direct evidence.
Also, on the patent, it doesn't matter who built it first what matters is who registers it first. That's also the basis of copyright law.
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4: 24 I believe I need to take issue with your conclusion that Tesla. didn't independently invent AC poly-phase current.
Just because 2 people had the same idea and came to the same conculsion at the same time, doesn't mean they didn't do it independently.
I'm an Electronic Engineer and Software engineer with 12 published video games. I can't tell you how many times I've seen code by others that matched the code I wrote. Or the times I've been working on a problem at the same time as others and 2 of us had the exact same idea and execution.
It's more common in the world of electronics, because in software, the possibilities are as boundless as your imagination, in this case, their conclusions are limited by Faraday's law of induction among other things.
It's disingenuous to not give credit to Tesla for independence of thought without direct evidence.
Also, on the patent, it doesn't matter who built it first what matters is who registers it first. That's also the basis of copyright law.
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Paul
Sir Humphrey Davie invented the electric arc lamp in 1809 decades before Thomas Edison was born. It was used in theaters and street lighting. This does not mean TE did not invent the electric light. Nikola Tesla perfected the induction motor that made AC practical. That is why George Westinghouse paid him $60, 000 and gave a royalty worth millions. Guglielmo Marconi used 12 Tesla ideas to perfect his radio system, GM later lost the patent battle against Tesla in 1946, after the death of Tesla. The Edison company, where Tesla worked and created, cheated him out of a verbal deal to fix the Edison faulty generators for $50, 000. He fixed the problem saving the company a fortune! Tesla quit and formed his own company. He felt betrayed by Edison. Tesla invented Florescence light, wireless power transmission, was key to radios development, the Tesla coil and was a creative genus!
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Sir Humphrey Davie invented the electric arc lamp in 1809 decades before Thomas Edison was born. It was used in theaters and street lighting. This does not mean TE did not invent the electric light. Nikola Tesla perfected the induction motor that made AC practical. That is why George Westinghouse paid him $60, 000 and gave a royalty worth millions. Guglielmo Marconi used 12 Tesla ideas to perfect his radio system, GM later lost the patent battle against Tesla in 1946, after the death of Tesla. The Edison company, where Tesla worked and created, cheated him out of a verbal deal to fix the Edison faulty generators for $50, 000. He fixed the problem saving the company a fortune! Tesla quit and formed his own company. He felt betrayed by Edison. Tesla invented Florescence light, wireless power transmission, was key to radios development, the Tesla coil and was a creative genus!
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Grrrnthumb
Kathy you twisted the facts a little yourself. There was never any evidence Ferraris made his AC motor in 1885 before Tesla, only his unsubstantiated allegation well after Tesla's became public. Tesla had proof & a patent, Ferraris had nothing, no evidence of an earlier date at all, just a lame after-the-fact allegation that he did it sooner. Even if Ferraris did make his in 1885, it was still not a functional motor (remember you said functional was important on another invention earlier when you were minimizing Tesla. bias. It did no work (per Ferraris) and could carry zero load placed on it. Your claim that Tesla's motor was merely a more efficient later model is very, very misleading, basically false. This exact issue was actually fought in court, in epic detail, and Tesla was confirmed as the inventor of the AC motor.
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Kathy you twisted the facts a little yourself. There was never any evidence Ferraris made his AC motor in 1885 before Tesla, only his unsubstantiated allegation well after Tesla's became public. Tesla had proof & a patent, Ferraris had nothing, no evidence of an earlier date at all, just a lame after-the-fact allegation that he did it sooner. Even if Ferraris did make his in 1885, it was still not a functional motor (remember you said functional was important on another invention earlier when you were minimizing Tesla. bias. It did no work (per Ferraris) and could carry zero load placed on it. Your claim that Tesla's motor was merely a more efficient later model is very, very misleading, basically false. This exact issue was actually fought in court, in epic detail, and Tesla was confirmed as the inventor of the AC motor.
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chris
thank you i have always been a big fan of edison. and yes tesla did some good things a. c. was were he shined but not with his 6 wire 3 ph. the other guys with the 3 wire 3 ph. got it right. the main reason i am a edison guy is look at what he did he worked on every thing from one end to the other but one of his biggest things the edison effect and he had no idea but how could he have he was electro mechanical and this was like the first electron tube it was the answer to a question no one asked one more in a long list of real unsung heroes Heinrich Hertz this is the true father of radio but like edison with his tube what was it good for these men suffered for there art and payed a price most would never think of so to all the men and women of sciences we salute you all. oh yea kate keep up the outstanding work
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thank you i have always been a big fan of edison. and yes tesla did some good things a. c. was were he shined but not with his 6 wire 3 ph. the other guys with the 3 wire 3 ph. got it right. the main reason i am a edison guy is look at what he did he worked on every thing from one end to the other but one of his biggest things the edison effect and he had no idea but how could he have he was electro mechanical and this was like the first electron tube it was the answer to a question no one asked one more in a long list of real unsung heroes Heinrich Hertz this is the true father of radio but like edison with his tube what was it good for these men suffered for there art and payed a price most would never think of so to all the men and women of sciences we salute you all. oh yea kate keep up the outstanding work
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noam65
I take a large point of view.
The injustice regarding Tesla isn't that we misunderstand the context of his influence in specifics.
No, the injustice is that he was intentionally forgotten and dropped from the public awareness.
He only came roaring back into awareness because of an electric car company named for him, and its eccentric billionaire who keeps the name in the public mind.
Tesla is a giant. He had patents on other areas, as well, and was an participant in the area of quantum physics, though maligned and ignored there also.
Had Westinghouse been allowed to fail, or if Tesla merely gave half his licensing fee, when Westinghouse went broke, Tesla could have funded his own research. It would be a vastly different world, if he had.
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I take a large point of view.
The injustice regarding Tesla isn't that we misunderstand the context of his influence in specifics.
No, the injustice is that he was intentionally forgotten and dropped from the public awareness.
He only came roaring back into awareness because of an electric car company named for him, and its eccentric billionaire who keeps the name in the public mind.
Tesla is a giant. He had patents on other areas, as well, and was an participant in the area of quantum physics, though maligned and ignored there also.
Had Westinghouse been allowed to fail, or if Tesla merely gave half his licensing fee, when Westinghouse went broke, Tesla could have funded his own research. It would be a vastly different world, if he had.
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Ray
I loved science history since I was a kid, and achieved my Gotha of History of Science through many years of study; much of it though, was on paper books and articles, before the spread of Internet in the late '90s.
My knowledge about the role of Tesla in the story of electricity matches your findings you tell in this video. But there is a fondamental discordance in what you can find today on internet websites that aren't history websites. On the internet today the history of electricity has been revised to give Tesla a role he didn't had.
There is the War of Current film that is - for a good part - a work of fiction. And, most worryingly, there is a BBC documentary exalting the role Tesla had in the creation of the modern electricity based society.
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I loved science history since I was a kid, and achieved my Gotha of History of Science through many years of study; much of it though, was on paper books and articles, before the spread of Internet in the late '90s.
My knowledge about the role of Tesla in the story of electricity matches your findings you tell in this video. But there is a fondamental discordance in what you can find today on internet websites that aren't history websites. On the internet today the history of electricity has been revised to give Tesla a role he didn't had.
There is the War of Current film that is - for a good part - a work of fiction. And, most worryingly, there is a BBC documentary exalting the role Tesla had in the creation of the modern electricity based society.
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Ray
Thank you for this video Mrs. Kathy.
This distortion of science history started with the advent of social media, when I begun to be criticised in some lessons and articles, for facts that I had been telling since practically ever.
Tesla was what he was, he had a great practical competence and intuition, but also had a deeply flawed personality and little understanding of scientific theory.
The person that scientists and science historians have always criticised for his willful wrong behaviour is Mr. Edison. He was well aware that AC transmission lines were incomparably superior to DC lines, but the fight with Mr. Westinghouse (Mr. Tesla had no part in this) was caused by Mr. Edison oversized ego.
Thanks once more,
Regards,
Anthony
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Thank you for this video Mrs. Kathy.
This distortion of science history started with the advent of social media, when I begun to be criticised in some lessons and articles, for facts that I had been telling since practically ever.
Tesla was what he was, he had a great practical competence and intuition, but also had a deeply flawed personality and little understanding of scientific theory.
The person that scientists and science historians have always criticised for his willful wrong behaviour is Mr. Edison. He was well aware that AC transmission lines were incomparably superior to DC lines, but the fight with Mr. Westinghouse (Mr. Tesla had no part in this) was caused by Mr. Edison oversized ego.
Thanks once more,
Regards,
Anthony
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Majin
To be fair to Tesla, didn't most of his big work come before Relativity. And wasn't relativity fought against by other big names as well.
Guys like Einstein were mathamagicains, they lived in their head. Guys like Tesla and Edison lived in the world and were inventors.
Both can make huge breakthroughs. Inventors can make incredible things happen without knowing the TRUE why, because it's all trial and error.
You don't have to believe in electrons to make electricity. You just need a magnet some conductor and something to happen on the other end. You could even theorize that the metal is somehow transferring the mechanical energy of the spinning magnet through some metal ether. The wrong understanding isn't going to make it not work.
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To be fair to Tesla, didn't most of his big work come before Relativity. And wasn't relativity fought against by other big names as well.
Guys like Einstein were mathamagicains, they lived in their head. Guys like Tesla and Edison lived in the world and were inventors.
Both can make huge breakthroughs. Inventors can make incredible things happen without knowing the TRUE why, because it's all trial and error.
You don't have to believe in electrons to make electricity. You just need a magnet some conductor and something to happen on the other end. You could even theorize that the metal is somehow transferring the mechanical energy of the spinning magnet through some metal ether. The wrong understanding isn't going to make it not work.
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Cristhian
Great video, I enjoy seeing real facts and not some opinions about people that believe from the media.
Here are some facts that some people didn't know about Tesla.
In the February 1935 issue of Liberty magazine, he basically called for the elimination of all non-white people.
He tried to sell weapons to get out of poverty, the phrase that his fans use to justify that action was that it would be the weapon that would end all wars (the famous death ray, but that phrase was said by Richard Jordan Gatling in 1861 when he invented the machine gun.
Tesla was awarded the Thomas Edison Medal with a cash prize of more than half a million dollars in today's money.
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Great video, I enjoy seeing real facts and not some opinions about people that believe from the media.
Here are some facts that some people didn't know about Tesla.
In the February 1935 issue of Liberty magazine, he basically called for the elimination of all non-white people.
He tried to sell weapons to get out of poverty, the phrase that his fans use to justify that action was that it would be the weapon that would end all wars (the famous death ray, but that phrase was said by Richard Jordan Gatling in 1861 when he invented the machine gun.
Tesla was awarded the Thomas Edison Medal with a cash prize of more than half a million dollars in today's money.
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Nick
Part of it is the Tesla fans trying to get his name back into the history books, because a good chunk of his engineering was highly important to the development of AC Power (via Westinghouse.
Another part of it is the Edison detractors trying to smear his history as one of the most significant and prolific inventors in all of human history -- which is still true even for those inventions done in his industrial-format laboratory -- HE chose what to invent and directed the process. It was invented because of him, the employees were interchangeable extensions of Edison's own hand. And if Edison had not done it, it might not have been done anywhere near as soon.
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Part of it is the Tesla fans trying to get his name back into the history books, because a good chunk of his engineering was highly important to the development of AC Power (via Westinghouse.
Another part of it is the Edison detractors trying to smear his history as one of the most significant and prolific inventors in all of human history -- which is still true even for those inventions done in his industrial-format laboratory -- HE chose what to invent and directed the process. It was invented because of him, the employees were interchangeable extensions of Edison's own hand. And if Edison had not done it, it might not have been done anywhere near as soon.
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wrightmf
You have clearly illustrated value of preliminary research of historical items rather than relying on recent interpretations. It must have been tedious but locating those quotes and writings by Tesla himself definitely shows things ain't what we thought they were. Reminds of a rumor that has been going on for decades about a ham radio operator who got a QSL card from Yuri Gagarin. But then Yuri (or Yuriy) is a common name in USSR, Wayne Green of CQ Magazine, don't ruin a good story with facts.
I bet there are many people thinking Elon invented this name for a car because it has a catchy sound to it.
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You have clearly illustrated value of preliminary research of historical items rather than relying on recent interpretations. It must have been tedious but locating those quotes and writings by Tesla himself definitely shows things ain't what we thought they were. Reminds of a rumor that has been going on for decades about a ham radio operator who got a QSL card from Yuri Gagarin. But then Yuri (or Yuriy) is a common name in USSR, Wayne Green of CQ Magazine, don't ruin a good story with facts.
I bet there are many people thinking Elon invented this name for a car because it has a catchy sound to it.
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Brian
Read a bio on Tesla and in it, it said that somewhere in mid to late 90's, Tesla took to relaxing while x-raying his head. These were a soft xray and not fatal. He described the sensation as gently warming and he found it relaxing. It can NOT have been good for him. I also think the xray period pretty much divides his productive phase with the boondoggle phase of his career. I am always surprised that more isn't said about it. It seems pretty significant to me! Buuuut, you run into so many folks seeking to ascribe to him such powers and achievements, etc, that it's going to be left out.
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Read a bio on Tesla and in it, it said that somewhere in mid to late 90's, Tesla took to relaxing while x-raying his head. These were a soft xray and not fatal. He described the sensation as gently warming and he found it relaxing. It can NOT have been good for him. I also think the xray period pretty much divides his productive phase with the boondoggle phase of his career. I am always surprised that more isn't said about it. It seems pretty significant to me! Buuuut, you run into so many folks seeking to ascribe to him such powers and achievements, etc, that it's going to be left out.
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Fatmir
I always knew this, and became furious, almost, when people started attributing AC and other inventions to this megalomaniac with no sense of basic physics and entrepreneurship at all, but I also must say he has touched our souls and ignited a will to mystify existence beyond the limitations of materialism, and maybe such a strive will lead to major innovations in the future. The true reason to his postmortem fame must have come from lobbies by Tesla cars of Elon Musk in recent years, as most of our fellow humans have no sense of critical and rational thinking whatsoever.
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I always knew this, and became furious, almost, when people started attributing AC and other inventions to this megalomaniac with no sense of basic physics and entrepreneurship at all, but I also must say he has touched our souls and ignited a will to mystify existence beyond the limitations of materialism, and maybe such a strive will lead to major innovations in the future. The true reason to his postmortem fame must have come from lobbies by Tesla cars of Elon Musk in recent years, as most of our fellow humans have no sense of critical and rational thinking whatsoever.
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Tom
They couldn't put a meter on it.
When I started studying tesla patents as a child his contributions were completely nonexistent and not taught in public schools. Invented ac? In all my reading on Tesla I never heard that, only that he made inventions that harnessed ac in usable formats. The history stated in this video seems fairly accurate with only a few minor misconceptions on Tesla's idiosyncrasies. Much of his contributions were funneled to elite crowd insiders as he was genius but not an insider.
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They couldn't put a meter on it.
When I started studying tesla patents as a child his contributions were completely nonexistent and not taught in public schools. Invented ac? In all my reading on Tesla I never heard that, only that he made inventions that harnessed ac in usable formats. The history stated in this video seems fairly accurate with only a few minor misconceptions on Tesla's idiosyncrasies. Much of his contributions were funneled to elite crowd insiders as he was genius but not an insider.
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Little
As far as I can determine, all this Tesla mythology and hero worship started in the mid-1990s although I don't know why. I speculate it was the popularization of the internet which allowed for the easy dissemination of misinformation (sound familiar. As an EE we certainly knew about Tesla when I was attending engineering school in the early 1970s but there was none of this mythology. He was just one of many who contributed to the advancement of electrical science.
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As far as I can determine, all this Tesla mythology and hero worship started in the mid-1990s although I don't know why. I speculate it was the popularization of the internet which allowed for the easy dissemination of misinformation (sound familiar. As an EE we certainly knew about Tesla when I was attending engineering school in the early 1970s but there was none of this mythology. He was just one of many who contributed to the advancement of electrical science.
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David
This should be required viewing in public schools, to reverse the misconceptions so rampant in the world today about Tesla. And once having rejected such misguided thinking, perhaps young people would reverse the current popularity of believing every claim they read and every advertisement they see. We need more critical thinking and less ignorance, to make best use of our lives and especially of government by representative democracy.
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This should be required viewing in public schools, to reverse the misconceptions so rampant in the world today about Tesla. And once having rejected such misguided thinking, perhaps young people would reverse the current popularity of believing every claim they read and every advertisement they see. We need more critical thinking and less ignorance, to make best use of our lives and especially of government by representative democracy.
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Michael
I'm not even that interested in inventors but I'm glad I found this. Tesla fanboys are so freakin' annoying! Before the internet I knew who Edison was, and I knew vaguely that Tesla was an inventor, mainly to do with electrical things. Gong online though I discovered the Tesla fanboys. They treat him like he invented EVERYTHING, and Edison is the bad guy in the story who stole everything from Tesla.
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I'm not even that interested in inventors but I'm glad I found this. Tesla fanboys are so freakin' annoying! Before the internet I knew who Edison was, and I knew vaguely that Tesla was an inventor, mainly to do with electrical things. Gong online though I discovered the Tesla fanboys. They treat him like he invented EVERYTHING, and Edison is the bad guy in the story who stole everything from Tesla.
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