Thomas Edison or Nikolai Tesla
Thomas Edison or Nikolai Tesla
I always had a passion for science and history.
Science in the present creates history. You cannot change history!
When I was in elementary school, Thomas Edison was science hero. My first book report was on Edison. He had an organ in his Menlo Park laboratory to play music for workers during meals and breaks. Clearly Google and Apple were inspired by this productive employee work environment model. Nikolai Tesla and Edison worked together and later parted ways due to their different personalities. When I got older, I learned more historical facts that were never in my report.
Nikolai Tesla was the real pioneer of electricity. He had a brilliant project that would have made electric power FREE using his AC (alternating current) system. However, greed and politics saw no profit in free electricity and cut funding for Tesla's project ending his career. He died alone and in poverty. Tesla was not able to turn his ideas into products for profit as Edison was. Many others took Tesla's work and ideas for themselves to gain commercial wealth and success.
In science, it is expected that individuals will expand on the work of those who came before them. In the arts, this is called plagiarism. In popular music, it can be referred to as sampling. Without a patent or copyright, you can expect a lawsuit. Does the protection of intellectual property cripple innovation and progress? Does the innovation cast a shadow over the inventors aboriginal creation?
"Let the future tell the truth and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine." - Tesla
Maybe he did not die poor and alone after all, if you look at it from his point of view. Google him! You cannot change history!
I cannot wait until I get my Tesla Model X.
Jorim Edgar Reid
http://www.teslamotors.com/modelx