

Edison: The worst fisherman that ever lived - ankeshk
http://www.productiveflourishing.com/the-worst-fisherman-that-ever-lived/

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philwelch
Edison is notably overrated. While he does deserve some credit, his approach
to R&D was infamously brute-force. Tesla noted, “If Edison had a needle to
find in a haystack, he would proceed at once with the diligence of the bee to
examine straw after straw until he found the object of his search. I was a
sorry witness of such doings, knowing that a little theory and calculation
would have saved him ninety per cent of his labor.” He also infamously took
credit for the inventions of his employees--the long and impressive list of
things Edison invented is really a long and impressive list of things invented
at Edison's lab.

While it's hard to argue with success, not every successful man should be a
figure of unquestioned admiration. Edison was famous in his day, and remains
famous today, because he had the best PR and marketing in the business.

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zeynel1
PR and marketing is an important part of the discovery process. Unless you get
your discovery in the market and build a business around it their is no
discovery. Tesla made great discoveries but he was not a good marketer.

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philwelch
Westinghouse _was_ a good marketer, however, so Tesla did not need to be.

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cromulent
Claiming that Edison invented the phonograph, the motion picture, and the
electric light bulb is like claiming Steve Jobs invented the MP3 player, the
GUI, and the mouse.

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dandelany
Sadly, basic history is not taught with much subtlety. Your children's
children may one day be taught this as truth.

