
Inventor Nikola Tesla Is Back in Tech Fashion - prakash
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704362004575000841720318942.html
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hristov
Wow good job, WSJ you picked up on a trend just about 10 years after it really
heated up.

In addition to being about 10 years late this is a really, really bad article
about Tesla. It does not mention anything about his very substantial actual
achievements but makes him sound like a crazy dreamer who did not achieve much
but became a cult favourite because of how weird he is.

The article did not mention that Tesla developed the system which pretty much
everyone in the world uses to get their electricity, or that almost all
electricity made now is made using one of his motors, or that after a lengthy
patent dispute the US courts determined that he was the actual inventor of
radio transmission, etc.

Tesla's contributions have been at least as influential as those of Edison and
likely more so.

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pvg
You sure you read the article?

"Tesla was a scientist and inventor who achieved fame and fortune in the 1880s
for figuring out how to make alternating current work on a grand scale,
electrifying the world. He created the first major hydroelectric dam, at
Niagara Falls. He thrilled packed theaters with presentations in which he ran
high voltage through his body to illuminate a fluorescent light in his hand.
His inventions helped Guglielmo Marconi develop radio."

Granted, the Tesla-cultism is a lot older than 10 years so the trend thing is
just article-filler.

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dirtbox
I wonder which will be cast as the villain in 100 years when the hip
visionaries we'll be looking back on will be Steve Jobs and Bill Gates.

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pvg
Not exactly a lovable loony underdog dying destitute and alone in a hotel in
that pairing. Both are obscenely rich and successful.

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grellas
Though Tesla himself made a "mint" selling his AC patents to Westinghouse in
the 1890s, according to the article, then proceeded to squander his fortune
thereafter.

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sree_nair
I am not sure whether "squander" is the right word to use here. To a
Scientiest as ambitious and risk taking as tesla, a failed experiement would
mean loosing wealth. But when you consider that all those failed experiments
could have inspired/helped future generations, i find the word in appropriate.

just my first thought when i read it. no negativity intended.

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grellas
OK, good point, no negativity taken (actually, I was just tracking what the
article said - the various comments here have made me want to learn a lot more
about Tesla, an obviously fascinating person about whom I knew very little up
to this point).

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sree_nair
Cool. It was a Big Surprise to me that I haven't learned about Tesla & his
inventions even after "studying" science for so many years.

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nhebb
This brings to mind PG's submarine article. I wouldn't be surprised if this
article wasn't the brain child of a PR firm working for Tesla Motors.

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pvg
Although it might also be helpful to recall that the essay originally used a
Business Week article about del.icio.us as an example of a 'hit', which it
wasn't (del.icio.us did not have a PR firm). Sometimes an article is just an
article. Probably most of the time.

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blasdel
Sometimes Hackers are nothing like Painters

Sometimes rewriting Netscape from scratch results in Mozilla

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iamwil
I'm surprised they didn't mention that the SciFi show "Sanctuary" has Telsa as
a character...who is a vampire...that can control electricity.

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klipt
Ironically, Dresden Codak portrays him as wearing an incandescent bulb:
<http://dresdencodak.com/2005/11/29/secular-heaven/>

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mmphosis
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegeodynamics>

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ableal
Well, Tesla does have an S.I. unit named after him (magnetic field,
<http://www.unitarium.com/si-units> ).

Better yet, he managed to keep his name's final vowel - Volta and Faraday got
theirs chopped off (seems there's a story about that).

(P.S. afterthought on electric cars: GM took the hint, and grabbed another
couple of SI unit names for their US/EU models ;-)

