Nikola Tesla, a true story

[Jagos]

Originally Posted by Inbred Chocobo

Yeah this is more of a link to a collection of pictures for Nikola Tesla, but Theoatmeal deserves credit for putting it all together so get over it.

Nikola Tesla

The Oatmeal is unfortunately biased for nothing other than being clouded on the flawed character that was Nikola Tesla. Sure, the man had some great stuff done in his day and age but come on... The inventor of AC? No, he wasn't. The greatest geek? Negatory. That would be Thomas Jefferson IMO.

So let's get into the claims here:

In a time when the majority of the world was still lit by candle power, an electrical system known as alternating current and to this day is what powers every home on the planet. Who do we have to thank for this invention that ushered humanity into a second industrial revolution? Nikola Tesla.

Nope. British chemist/scientistMichael Faraday[/url] created the principle of DC current. Hippolyte Pixii created AC based on this work. Want to see more? Here's the timeline. Basically, Tesla refined the process similar to the tinkerers that are making new uses for old products. Want to know how the war of the currents was won? George Westinghouse was Thomas Edison's rival.

Finally, look at what AC and DC do well. AC is used for transmission. DC is still used in our homes. Both are used for very specific purposes and we haven't done one over the other.

“Edison didn’t invent the light bulb, he improved upon the ideas of 22 other men who pioneered the light bulb before him. Edison simply figured out how to sell the light bulb.”

No shit. Neither did Tesla. Tesla was an eccentric that worked for Edison and didn't like it. But he sure didn't invent anything as I've pointed out before. Sure, he made it better, and we remember the waterfall incident. But seriously, let's give Edison some credit here. He brought a lot of engineers together along with the patents to get innovations that helped his bottom line. Keep it real. He was a rich man that knew how to innovate.

Case in point, Edison made a practical lightbulb which didn't burn out quickly. He also made them cheaper. Even Joseph Swan was in awe in how he found solutions to those problems.

I'm not even going to get into how the radar issue is so wrong other than saying Tesla never developed a prototype for his idea.

On to the next part:

X-Rays

Nope, not invented by Tesla. Look into Ivan Pulyui and Wilhelm Roentgen. Tesla did recognize the dangers of X-Rays where Edison did not.

The next part is probably the worst for TheOatmeal article that I don't condone on Edison.

Edison and Clarence Dally both experimented on themselves. Same as Marie and Pierre Curie. And this haunted Edison:

In 1903, a shaken Edison said "Don't talk to me about X-rays, I am afraid of them."

And what makes this even more of a D-bag move for The Oatmeal? Edison kept him on the payroll through his suffering. In the Libertarian society that was the 1900s, that was abnormal to say the least.

Now do I believe that Tesla is an unsung hero? Absolutely. People learn about Edison, but barely if ever learn about Tesla or any other people that were early 1900 creators in technology. Still, Tesla gave a lot in innovation, but we seriously need to recognize that there were others that helped him.