Nicholas Tesla - the greatest geek who ever lived

[True Earthling]

Called a madman by his enemies, a genius by others, and an enigma by nearly everyone, Nikola Tesla was, without a doubt, a trailblazing inventor who created astonishing, sometimes world-transforming devices that were virtually without theoretical precedent. Tesla not only discovered the rotating magnetic field -- the basis of most alternating-current machinery -- but also introduced us to the fundamentals of robotics, computers, and missile science. Almost supernaturally gifted, unfailingly flamboyant and neurotic, Tesla was troubled by an array of compulsions and phobias and was fond of extravagant, visionary experimentations. He was also a popular man-about-town, admired by men as diverse as Mark Twain and George Westinghouse, and adored by scores of society beauties - but refused to date and remained celibate his entire life for fear it would interfere with his work...

An entertaining compilation of accomplishments and conflicts with main rival Thomas Edison who did everything in his power to discredit probably the greatest mind of the 20th century...

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla

[tk2kewl]

1. K&R and and a plug fo a nice quote of his in another thread...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002711746

[True Earthling]

3. Beautiful...

Thanks.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. OK, that was cool.

[alittlelark]

4. I 'Stumbled upon' that a few days ago.

Amazing.

[Sentath]

5. Don't miss his rebuttal of the article critical of that cartoon.

http://theoatmeal.com/blog/tesla_response

[eppur_se_muova]

10. Lots of mythmaking on both sides. Both very productive, both flawed.

Unfortunately, there are people who insist on crediting Tesla with almost divine powers -- some even attributing an extraterrestial origin to him. In fact, he made brilliant contributions to a field in its infancy -- when it is easiest to make big discoveries -- but fell behind the mainstream afterwards. AFAIK, he spent the rest of his life arguing against the theory of electromagnetic radiation that is accepted by virtually everyone. Tesla insisted on believing that EMR involved oscillations parallel to the axis of propagation, not transverse as in the accepted theory, and requiring some medium other than empty space -- the 'ether' -- for its propagation, long after most physicists had accepted that Michaelson and Morley had shown the nonexistence of the ether experimentally, and Einstein had shown that special relativity virtually required the elimination of the concept.

Nothing wrong with admiring Tesla's genuine contributions, just don't inflate them. Many of his experiments involved conversion or expenditure of tremendous amounts of power, but he never invented any mysterious new sources of power, as his most ardent "fans" seem to believe. His ideas for wireless transmission of power look hopelessly crude and inefficient compared to the methods which have been under development in the past decade or two.

[frazzled]

6. One of the most beautiful sights in Prague

is this stained glass window of the Tesla Company in a glass-ceilinged "passage." (PS: The company was named after Tesla, but I don't think it was started by him; still, the sign seems like a shrine to him.)

[FogerRox]

7. Mounting a ray gun in a pick up truck

driving around the desert shooting at invisible space ships.....


I'll stick to Dr Robert Bussard.

[jtuck004]

8. His spirit lives on...

http://madliketesla.com/

[ananda]

9. And he invented the Tesla gun in Warehouse 13!

Yeahbuddy.

)

[stlsaxman]

11. that thing about transmitting electricty through the air was GENIOUS...

and it worked great-

until you touched a water pipe or anything grounded (like a toilet) and died.

"That's a GREAT IDEA, Nikola- glad I thought of it!" Thomas A Edison.