Tesla vs. Edison

[3victrolas]

Ok, so who here likes Tesla more than Edison? Here's an interesting article from The Wall Street Journal regarding that very subject.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 18942.html

[schweg]

Thanks for posting- that is an interesting article. I guess the bottom line is that Edison was practical- if it isn't useful and saleable, he wasn't interested in inventing it. Tesla seems to me to have been more of a dreamer, more of a "pure scientist". In my world it's kind of like the research group in contrast to the operations group. The folks who do projects for the projects sake in contrast to the groups who drill the wells and make money for the company. Both are needed but don't always see eye to eye.

Steve

[estott]

I think a bit of it is looks. The image of Tesla is this slender dark-haired man, very much in line with today's body image: tightly wound and dynamic. You wouldn't be surprised seeing him on the street today- or in a television ad.

Edison was once a brash young man but his image comes down as a quirky grandfatherly man (with minions in the background). A figure of respect, but definitely part of the past- a sort of dead end.

[estott]

Thanks for posting- that is an interesting article. I guess the bottom line is that Edison was practical- if it isn't useful and saleable, he wasn't interested in inventing it.
Steve

I wouldn't quite agree with that- there are a lot of impractical theoretical devices in the Edison patent file- like that heat measuring device. How about the "Edison Effect"- very interesting from a technical standpoint but he never really found an application. It was only some time later that he found he'd invented a radio tube without a radio.