Thomas Edison versus Nikola Tesla: Who is more productive?

October 26 by | 296 comments | Featured, Productivity | Tags: , ,
Tesla and Edison

Thomas Edison is widely known as the greatest inventor the world has ever known. Nikola Tesla is also known as a great inventor and many people say he was more brilliant than Edison was. In our last post, two weeks ago, we discussed Edison’s 5 million page note-taking system and received a reaction from some of Tesla’s fans.

Should we really care who was brighter? Or is it productivity that really counts? Who was the more productive of these two famous men?
Edison is famous for inventing the phonograph, incandescent light bulb, cement making technology, motion picture camera, DC motors and electric power generation systems, battery and several other things we use every day and don’t think much about. Tesla similarly invented radio, fluorescent light, AC motors and electric power generation systems. Both these men lived long lives, well into their 80s, at around the same time a century ago.

There are big differences between Edison and Tesla. The main one seems to be based on who got the credit for what. Many Tesla fans accuse Edison of having stolen much from Tesla who worked for Edison during his early years. They claim Edison was a thief and that he died a rich and powerful man surrounded by friends because he robbed Tesla and others like him. Meanwhile, Tesla died broke and miserable and lonely with his closest friends being wild pigeons he had enticed into his room at the Hotel New Yorker. Edison fans similarly suggest Tesla was a swindler who deceived investors into financing his ideas with promises he rarely kept. They suggest Tesla got his just rewards.
Both versions appear to be true. For example, Edison did not invent the light bulb. Joseph Swan was installing them in homes and landmarks in England years before Edison got his light bulb patented and working. Edison was buying out other people’s patents and when Swan eventually sued Edison and won, Edison had to take him in as a partner in Edison’s British company. Likewise, a deceitful Tesla managed to convince J.P. Morgan, the world’s most powerful financier at the time, to finance his concept for wireless free electricity production under the guise of sending radio messages across the oceans and to and from ships at sea. Tesla was making artificial lightning with Morgan’s money that was eventually cut off.

Edison and Tesla came to technological blows in the late 1800s when Tesla’s AC (alternating current) power systems that are used all over the world today came into competition with Edison’s DC (direct current) power systems. As it turns out, Tesla’s system was the better one. Tesla’s technologies were bought by railway air brake inventor George Westinghouse who developed them into what became the multinational Westinghouse company. Edison is the godfather of General Electric, presently the world’s 12th largest company. Both these guys were prolific inventors and became famous for it. But comparing them on a point by point basis, the reasons why Edison died rich and famous while Tesla died broke and lonely become clear based on relative productivity.
The Edison versus Tesla productivity scorecard:

  1. Innovation output. Edison had received 1093 lifetime U.S. patents while Tesla had received 112. Although some of Edison’s patents (perhaps many of them) were bought or stolen, this is a huge number. Since Tesla wasn’t taking much money from Edison and only worked for him a short time, there is no way Edison could have stolen many from him.
  2. Innovation success rate. Almost 100% of Edison’s patents were tied to commercial successes while Tesla’s number was similarly high in the early years while working for Westinghouse then plummeted to about 20% after he went out on his own.
  3. Capital productivity. Edison built up sophisticated laboratory operations, employing some of the best and brightest people in the world, with Tesla among them for a while. Tesla built up similar labs while involved with Westinghouse and when on his own. The difference is that Edison did not hesitate to scale down or close operations from time to time as his organizational needs changed to remain solvent. Tesla had his creditors closing them for him.
  4. Labour productivity. This is one of the greatest differences between Edison and Tesla. Edison always had several people involved with his projects while Tesla generally worked alone. Tesla might have had extremely high levels of personal productivity at times, but Edison had the advantage of having a virtual army at his disposal. For example, Edison was able to accumulate over 5 million pages of organized records while Tesla had relatively few and they were not as well organized as Edison’s. Edison and Tesla both had legendary work ethics, but only Edison had it instilled at an organizational level.
  5. Media output (the Google Test). A quick Google image search of “Thomas Edison” generated 123,000 returns while the same search of “Nikola Tesla” generated 35,000 returns. Edison and Tesla each had the ability to engage the media in their day although Edison had the upper hand in this regard too.
  6. Network productivity. This is the Who’s Who test. Edison developed close relations with some of the most powerful and influential people around in his day, including Henry Ford, while Tesla also knew such people but tended to alienate most of them over time.

Did we miss anything important here? Or did Edison simply out-produce Tesla in every measurable way? Vote for the person you think was the most productive. If you don’t agree productivity is what counts, cast your vote anyway but let us know how you compared these two famous and controversial inventors.

Peter Paul Roosen and Tatsuya Nakagawa are co-founders of Atomica Creative Group , a specialized strategic product marketing firm. Through leading edge insight and research, sound strategic planning and effective project management, Atomica helps companies achieve greater success in bringing new products to market and in improving their existing businesses. They have co-authored Overcoming Inventoritis: The Silent Killer of Innovation now available.

  • http://catatonias.blogspot.com DIT

    Edison was the better marketer, period. You can have the greatest idea in the world but if you don’t sell it right, then no one’s going to buy it.

  • ElecBoy

    Very interesting article and a good one, I like Thomas Edison he is one of the person that inspires me.

    • Don-makro

      lol

  • http://www.dakic.com Zeljko Dakic

    I think that it is typical that Edison is highly regarded in US, at expense of genius of Tesla. In rest of the world it is not like that and I don’t think you will find many references of Edison.
    In terms of innovation, it is common to regard Tesla’s as the ones whose time should came. On the other hand Tesla does attract a lot of crackpots as well, which makes objective evaluation of his work harder.
    Tesla was really out of this world when it comes to creativity and visualization, as well as ideas he came up with. He really didn’t care much about money which is why he didn’t have it.
    Edison was more a down to earth guy who tried to profit on every little thing, which he did. I don’t think that this is wrong at all, just they are not comparable.

  • http://www.etavitom.com Etavitom

    The important thing to remember is that both individuals are brilliant and had a profound impact on society. I am not concerned with who is greater, but would rather use their accomplishments as motivation for my own life.

    Thanks for the wisdom!

  • EddieA

    This article seems to blur the boundaries between quality and quantity. From what I have read and studied over the years… Edison was far more concerned with inventions (in many scientific realms), while Tesla was far more concerned with science (specifically of electricity).

    For example, ask any electrical engineer who was most influential in their field and my guess is that nearly every single one would say Tesla.

  • http://www.morydd.net morydd

    Comparing Tesla and Edison is very similar to comparing Nixon and Kennedy. It really boils down to PR and a couple of poor decisions. Tesla sold many of his patents to Westinghouse, who helped him carry on his research until Westinghous was bought out by the Edison corporation (which TA Edision was no longer involved with in any controling way) who then shut Tesla out. Perhaps Tesla would have been more productive if he had had secure income and powerful supporters later in life.

    • Moni

      What people do not realise is that while Thomas Edison is called the “Father of Electricity”, and did indeed patent the first commercial electric lamp; his system was based on Direct Current..As such the idea of Alternating current was frowned upon by Edison. He feared that; correctly; his system would be “taken over” by Alternating Current. Edison tried to discredit Tesla as -Nikola Tesla was the inventor of Alternating Current.Edison was a very aggressive, posturing, public image person while Tesla was a quiet, withdrawing, sensitive person. Two completely different people.However Tesla had truth on his side; as George Westinghouse once said to him. Alternating Current was 100 per cent more efficient than Direct Current; and could travel extremely long distances over wires; while Direct Current could only travel a few Kilometers. An Alternator operating at full load is very very efficient as far as input to output. As Tesla said “it is in harmony with nature”.

    • Moni

      What people do not realise is that while Thomas Edison is called the “Father of Electricity”, and did indeed patent the first commercial electric lamp; his system was based on Direct Current..As such the idea of Alternating current was frowned upon by Edison. He feared that; correctly; his system would be “taken over” by Alternating Current. Edison tried to discredit Tesla as -Nikola Tesla was the inventor of Alternating Current.Edison was a very aggressive, posturing, public image person while Tesla was a quiet, withdrawing, sensitive person. Two completely different people.However Tesla had truth on his side; as George Westinghouse once said to him. Alternating Current was 100 per cent more efficient than Direct Current; and could travel extremely long distances over wires; while Direct Current could only travel a few Kilometers. An Alternator operating at full load is very very efficient as far as input to output. As Tesla said “it is in harmony with nature”.

  • Gene Mate

    You also have to look around and see what’s still in use in effectively the same form as invented. Tesla has a number of inventions still in use, such as the AC power grid, nearly unchanged in over 100 years. Other inventions, such as the bladeless turbine, are just now being built as the metallurgy was not available back then. Furthermore, Tesla typically built entire systems — such as broadcast radio — while others created subportions of a complex area Tesla was examining.

    Tesla was also notorious for not patenting his ideas. One look through some of his notebooks shows numerous ideas that could have been patented, though many would have been years if not decades ahead of their time.

    One need only look at his work into X-rays to realize he was probably further ahead than Roentgen. I believe Roentgen actually wanted to share discovery with Tesla, but Tesla demurred. Tesla felt doing science for mankind was enough reward. But in a capitalist society such altruism is rarely true or rewarded.

    Today, many of the projects he worked on are being examined by fields as varied as turbine manufacturers to nuclear fusion containment scientists. His breadth was amazing.

    What might have been had Tesla not torn up that AC patent agreement with Westinghouse? Imagine if he’d struck a deal for a large share of Westinghouse, instead. We’ll never know what might have been.

  • http://www.justorganizeyourstuff.com Cathy

    I have always been fascinated by Tesla since reading a book about him years ago. A long time has passed, I can’t even remember the title. What intrigued me most was his study of weather. But I can’t agree more to what Etavitom said.

  • christhenelly

    Considering they are both dead, I dont think they are being very productive at all.

  • Ethan

    Hmmm…I really don’t think productivity is what matters. Yeah, if you’re seeing who had their name on the most stuff, it’s Edison…by far.

    If we’re talking about who made a greater contribution to society, I would argue Tesla. AC, Radio, inventing Robotics, discovering X-rays (although some people contest that) etc. etc.

    I’d also like to see sources on this 100% mark of success. I will give Edison something though, he was a very clever man when it came to business. Probably the best of his generation.

    Personally, I don’t care much for Edison. If anyone has studied his smear campaign against AC (specifically with the electric chair) you’ll find out he was pretty screwed up.

  • http://www.atomicacreative.com Tats

    @Ethan: We created a spreadsheet outlining the commercial relevance and success rates of all of Edison (http://tinyurl.com/2b4lhq) and Testla’s (http://tinyurl.com/yvwev4) US patents. We did an analysis and Edison’s numbers were almost perfect while Tesla’s were great until he went out on his own.

  • Scott

    Edison only had that many patents due to the “army” working for him. He signed his name as a co-inventor on every patent that was created by his company. Compare this to George Westinghouse who signed as a co-inventor only on projects that he himself worked on.

  • Douglas Fowler

    Well, here’s another point that was not covered. When Tesla went out on his own after Westinghouse, he did run his own lab, complete with assistant. I cannot for the life of me remember the individuals name, but he received the credit for quite a few of Tesla’s inventions. Another point that hurt Tesla, was that he was not native born. I know that in an ideal society that would not matter an iota, but it would have pulled weight out from behind Tesla, if he even cared to follow through with suing over stolen patents.

  • Leaf

    I’d agree with DIT – edison was a better marketter. Funny thing is the article failed to mention how Edison rubbed off Tesla’s payment as “american humor”. I ain’t an american but that’s certainly not humorous by any degree..

    As for him taking notes, from what I can remember – he didn’t need to take notes. He had ~Photographic Memory~

    Comparison by patents is certainly absurd. Tesla’s machines and patents are used even today. A significant portion of Edison’s patents on the other hand are related to phonograph, telegraph and incandescent lighting – all of which are being replaced by better technologies.

    As for the labour productivity, it’s true that Tesla worked solo but doesn’t show an important point that Tesla was able to outperform a batallion of Edison’s workers..

    There is no doubt that Edison was the more popular of the two however.

    I don’t understand one important thing though, what does productivity have to do with commercial success? If we’re talking about inspiring personalities, it’s Edison. If intriguing personalities, it’s Tesla.

  • Scott Husch

    I’ve been a tesla fan ever since reading Man out of Time. Edison may have invented more but if you look at many fo Tesla’s ideas they were light years a head of current thought. In weaponry he thought of radio guided weaponry long before it became reality.
    Judging by vision and not just by sheer volume of patents many of which have no practical use now I will come down on Tesla’s side everytime.
    And for those judging by wealth keep in mind Tesla frequently let his backers out of their contracts. Westinghouse could never have afforded to pay Tesla all that was due him. The fortune Tesla could have amassed would make gates look like a piker.

  • http://bol.sf.net Chanio

    When Lincoln became a president, it is said that he named some of his enemies as members of his government.

    Wouldn’t it have been more productive to have Edison working with Tesla forever?

    Edison was like a child playing with toys, but he presented his inventions completely developed to be commercialized. That is the reason why he got so pissed off when Westinghouse impossed the AC current as the standard electricity. He had invested a lot of time studying the commercialization of Direct Current that he said it was safer for the people. He had created the electricity meter, cable standards, etc.

    Besides, Tesla was brought to America by Edison. He was a real scientist but didn’t have the contacts that Edison had. They shoudn’t have split.

    If they were really the heroes that we now imagine they were, they should have forced themselves to keep on working together for the sake of the world. (No electric chair, perhaps, air transmited electricity, etc.)

  • David Myers

    The article makes a foolish and distracting claim of ‘productivity’ measured in ‘patents’ being the measure of a man’s worth. Following this reasoning, Isaac Newton, Thomas Jefferson and Ghandi had zero value as none earned any patents.

    If we are talking raw productivity of goods, we can easily show that Stalin and Mao Tse Tung were far more productive than Einstein. But what does that prove?

  • http://www.proliberty.com/observer/20070405.htm Ivanhoe

    Tesla’s inventions and his career were excluded from our history books because his inventions and patents were stolen and then weaponized. It was never intended for us to learn about the suppression of Tesla’s advanced scientific discoveries, nor about those who profited from their theft.

  • http://www.case42.com Dave McClave

    You could make a case for a person’s worth in relation to their patents, sales, acheivements, or any other measurement you wish, but only if you use a measure that is common to all participants in the comparison. In terms of patents, DaVinci had nothing on Edison, but in terms of scientific discovery and artistic brilliance, most would argue that DaVinci was the better man. The same may be said of Tesla versus Edison – in terms of business saavy, Edison was light years ahead of Tesla. But, as Tesla is a personal interest of mine, I’d say he had the upper hand when it came to discovery and invention.

    I also must agree with Ivanhoe regarding suppression, weaponization and public knowledge, although to say so publicly makes me look a bit paranoid. Tesla’s most profound discoveries were purchased or stolen and then hidden or simply “shelved” by the new patent holder. This is common even today in corporate technology and the military industrial complex.

  • wayde

    also not mentioned is the fact that edison offered tesla US $50 000 to redesign his out of date DC engines of the time. Tesla came up with the AC motor and edison practicaly told him that the deal was a joke pretty much. Edison could not afford to pay that amount considering it was worth more that the company he was running at the time.

  • Kyle

    As a side note, Edison invented the kinetoscope and a primitive predecessor to the motion picture camera, but it was actually the Lumiere brothers in France who in 1892 invented the camera as we know it today. The Lumiere’s camera worked as both the camera AND the projector, whereas Edison’s films could only be watched on a kinetoscope (a peephole viewer in penny arcades).

  • http://www.myspace.com/sethmetoyer Seth Metoyer

    Nikola Tesla. No question.

  • http://www.bluelighttickets.com BlueLightTickets.com

    Interesting question/debate. I think that they were both amazing. I always wonder about the deathray. Maybe we wouldn’t be around to discuss this if it was every actually developed.

  • John Hamby

    The definitive test to measure “success”, or which of the two have had the most significant longterm impact can be easily tested by anyone with a two-part experiement: Live one day without Edison inventions and progeny. Part two, attempt living a day without Tesla and his inventions and progeny. Keep in mind, unless you’re reading this in daylight and on battery charged by the sun, Mr. Tesla’s already way ahead!

  • Alex

    So what about counting how many (metric) units are named after both?

    Tesla – 1
    Edison – 0

    As already pointed out, one was true genius of a scientist, and other one was more of a marketing guy. Both were smart in their own ways.

    Comparing the two is like mixing grandmothers with frogs (oranges and apples).

  • Sangrail

    Where do we vote?
    Is there a poll?

    If not: I say Tesla. Greater personal contribution to humanity.

    It’s posts like this that make me re-evaluate what I’m wanting to ‘achieve’ with productivity, and whether the particular thing I’m doing is really worth it.

    Edison brute-forced everything. Do I really want to be the sort of person that is proud of how overworked I am, and take it as such a point of pride I lie (even further) about how little sleep I get? Or do I want to come up with new ideas and frameworks that will continue being used long past my immediate presence?

    I think I’ve had the same realisation with happiness. People who eat their same favourite food regularly, without much change, rated themselves as happier ‘in the moment’ – but I’m starting to suspect this is like people asked to rate how much time is passing when doing something very boring: at that moment in time, the answer is usually ‘a lot’.
    But if asked to evaluate some previous stretch of time, the boring undistinguished stretches are compressed in our memory, retrospectively appearing to have taken very little time, but our interesting times, they’re memorable.

    I don’t want to have a blandly comfortable time and then look back on it, regretting opportunities not taken or feel like I wasted time.

    An interesting life is more important to me than a happy one. It may be more stressful at the time, but if my current life is anything to go by – it will be more satisfying.

  • Carlton

    As an electrical engineer, focusing on power electronics, I can say that Tesla is much more respected in the electrical engineering field, at least. Certainly, I agree that Edison seemed more productive, and definitely more successful, but Tesla was the real scientific genius.

    Telsa’s huge exploration and understanding of electromagnetics is the reason that electricity is in every home. His research in radios, power generation and conversion, turbines and more were pivotal in powering the 20th century and some of his ideas and designs were so ahead of their time that we still haven’t fully implemented them (such as full-scale wireless power generation).

  • http://www.tennissaver.com boki jaki

    Tesla contribution more to humanity then Edison. But Tesla has not been given credit for his work. It is an absolute decrease that one of the greatest scientist in history is not an mainstream name like Albert Einstein, and Leonardo Da vinci.

  • http://kineticaudio.com T R Karson

    Doctor Tesla overwhelmingly surpasses Edison. NO COMPARISON!

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  • john

    I like Nikola Tesla more, just because his name sound cool, and hes russian wich intriges me.

    I think these kind of discussions are pointless because we werent there obvious(?).

    Well they arent pointless but we will mirror there supposed character to ourselfs and ofcourse the capatalistic(?)
    Edison loses the battle here
    People have a tendacy to choose for the underdog, except when theres that weird homeless guy walking with a wounded pigeon after he fried an elephent.

    Srry for spelling

  • JOJO

    Do only Tesla fans come to this website?

    • SCF

      No. It seems that simply everybody know Edison was an American Thief, not a real scientific/inventor.

      Problem with Tesla is that He was not born in America and because of that His work was not recognized as it should.

  • Lica

    I agree with Carlton. Tesla is the furgotten genius. Togheter with Leonardo da Vinci, Einstein, Newton, was one of the brilliant brain of history.

  • Papo Rodz

    DON’T THINK THAT BECOUSE A LOT OF PEOPLE AGREE IN THIS SITE THAT TESLA IS THE BRIGHTER AND MOST BRILLIANT INVENTOR OF THE 2 IT’S BECOUSE WE ARE ALL TESLA’S FANS,. IT’S SIMPLE AND CLEAR THAT IF SUCESS ITS MEASURED BY MARKETTING AND ADVERTISEMENT AND NOT BY KNOWLADGE AND RESEARCH THEN UNQUESTIONABLY EDISON IS THE BETTER MAN .IF YOU READ THE MAIN STORY POSTED HERE THEN YOU’LL REALIZED THAT SUCESS WAS MEASURED BY MARKETTING AND ADVERTISMENT OF IDEAS OR INVENTIONS NOT BY CHEER BRAIN POWER AND GENIOUS. IN THE BRAIN DEPARTMENT THEN TESLA WAS LIGHT YEARS AHEAD OF THE MUUUUUUCH INFERIOR EDISON.’NUFF SAID

  • Papo Rodz

    JUST FORGOT TO ADD.IF THE WORLD WILL COME TO A FINANCIAL DEPRESSION AND CRISIS I WOULD PICK EDISON TO INVENT HIS WAY OUT OF IT AND TAKE US TO A NEW BONANZA AGE FINANCIALLY.

    ON THE OTHER HAND IF HUMANITY WOULD HAVED BEEN THREATEN TO AN ALMOST COMPLETE EXTERMINATION BY A NUCLEAR OR NATURAL CAUSES CATACLISISM THEN I’LL PICK TESLA TO BRING US OUT OF THE HOLE OR ASHES AND RE-INVENT CIVILIZATION IN THE TECHNOLOGY FIELD, HE WILL THEN TAKE US WHERE NO MAN HAVE EVER BEEN BEFORE ,FAR,FAR TO THE INFINITE UNIVERSE AND ITS MYSTERIES(SCIENTIFICKLY SPEAKING ).

    I SAID THIS WITH ALL THE RESPECT TO ALL OF THOSE EDISON FANS OUT THERE AND WITHOUT TAKING ANYTHING AWAY FROM MISTER EDISON’S TRUE GENIOUS (WHOM I ADMIRE AS WELL). ITS JUST LIKE COMPARING A GREAT VIOLINIST WHO IS A CONCERTIST\TEACHER TO A VIOLIN VIRTUOSO LIKE NICOLO PAGANINI, JUST A NO-CONTEST SITUATION BECOUSE PAGANINI WAS BORN TALENTED AND GIFTED FROM BIRTH TO BE A TOP CONCERTIST VIRTUOSO AND THE OTHER VIOLONIST WAS MADE BY CHEER PRACTICE AND AFFORT.

  • http://www.stevelogy.fw.hu Steve

    The two genius had different role in history. Edison had worked for his present time, Tesla for the future. We can see it in theirs invention and maybe we will see, that many of Tesla dreams will coming to life soon…

  • http://None John

    Nikola Tesla is GOD people..he invented the future and he is not getting the credit that he should be. Come on seriously Edison has been stealing all of the inventions for Tesla. Tesla invented every electric and power movable object. We would be in dark ages if it wasnt for tesla. He is the greatest mind on the planet that has ever lived. The man spoke 8 languages. Edison only 1. There is no competition Tesla owns Edison in every way possible. Test is GOD like i said, and those people that said that he is RUSSIAN should so some more research…He is Croatian/Serbian.

  • DMadCat

    I probably woudn’t go as far as that last reply but it seems to me Edison was the Bill Gates of his time. He invented a few important things but most of what he accomplished relied on other peoples’ ingenuity and his own marketing skills.

    Tesla on the other hand appears to have been the true technofile more interested in working on/with the actual technology than maintaining a business.

    My respect goes to Tesla. Business men do not impress me.

  • Kerst Levey

    Tesla will always be one of my heros. I have known people like edison, he had the “means” to make things happen but none of the inovation. He has to steal ideas, and then make them happen. Tesla, and men like him, brilliant and creative and imaginative, but poor. It is the same way today. People who can affort college get the jobs and poor people with all of the wisdom and intelligence in the world get nothing because they just are not given the oportunity to show who they are. It’s a shame, that this world is so corupted by money. Tesla may have used someones money to fuel his dreams, but at least he didn’t steal other peoples ideas.

  • Kris Hjalmarsson

    As history likes to see it…

    Edison invented the Light Bulb
    Henry Ford Invented the Automobile

    And a hundred years from now….

    William . H. Gates Invented the so called “Personal Computer”.

    History has it so wrong !

  • McBadA

    Edison hired Tesla to do some of his work then screwed him over on it. TODAY we are using shit tons more telsa or tesla based inventions. if you really look into it schools tell you edison is better simply because he’s american. tesla dominates

  • http://www.diatagon.com Jun Abines

    Tesla is the genius in terms of logic, mathematical calculation, keen observation and imagination to the highest level. He does things for the love of science and discovery to be applied into practical uses.

    Edison is creative, resourceful and a true businessman. He does things to the sake of invention, accomplishments, legacy and of course profit.

    I think Tesla was the better guy. He is the true scientist between the two.

    • scienceorc

      Edison wasn’t creative. He was good at stealing, and being an ass. Tesla was awesome!

  • zuki

    Tesla DEFINITELY.

  • Nenad

    I`m very happy to see that all of you can see how Tesla was important. I hate when I hear somebody mentioning the greatest sientist of the century but not Tesla. Btw
    Tesla was a Serb that lived in teritory now called Croatia, but then it was Austria`s empire. Hes father was a priest in Serbian church.

  • Justice

    It is absurd to even compare those 2 guys. Anyone who claims that Edison contributed to the world more than Tesla did, is a totally illiterated stupid f**k.

  • Justice

    Edison is nothing more than a Ferengi from the Star Trek. Just look at the picture! Am I wrong???

  • http://www.seoagent..org Emil

    Tesla and there is NO QUESTION about it.

    Edison was great, don’t get me wrong, but he’s the one responsible for getting Tesla “on fire”, stealing Tesla’s projects and taking full ownership without asking Tesla and patenting them as well.

    Somebody says Edison was Businessman, that is total BS, that is not called Business at all. Tesla didn’t care about the money, PERIOD.

    Thanks,
    Emil

  • tim

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  • Steve

    Edison was a Bill Gates, he took other peoples ideas and marketed/patendted them as his own. He improved up on them, but he as less of an innovator and more of a businessman. He Made his money on what would make HIM money and give him more power. He sought alliances with people who made is ability to gobble up the little guy and incorperate it to his own profit.

    Was this good? Well, morally, i think the guy was a bit of a jerk(killng the elephent as propaganda against A/C) but the end result is he took these ideas and mass marketed them to the public.. so in the sense of bringing innovation to the people, he did wonders, whether he actually invented them or not.

    Tesla was more of a loose canon, less controled but more pure genius. He was less focused and easily distracded and also not ethical in using others money for projects other than their indended purpose.(stealing)
    Telsa probably needed more guidence.. and if he had funding and time and focus, he probably would have developed many amazing things.. as he didn’t create them for what was marketable, but rather what he found interesting. We would probably have some intersting inventions today that do not exist had he had funding and focus… but I think he really needed someone like a westinghouse or edison to guide him and keep him focused.

    So.. to answer the question? I think Tesla was more of the Genius, more of the inventor… where Edison was able to take others innovations and bring them to the world(granted for his own profit)

    Both played a role, but one is not necessarily better.

    I will say this.. Edison irks me because he gets so much credit as an inventor… when he made his profits on other inventions.

    I go back to Bill gates.. he got luck getting MSDOS and was able to market it. Once he got money and power, he took other peoples idea and improved upon them.. and integrated to eventually kill off the real innovators. Microsoft has never been in innovator. So I consider Edison like a Bill Gates.. only Bill gates didn’t kill elephents.

  • Steve

    Let me simplify that last message:

    Edison was about making money.. though I’m sure he loved the inventions he patented… money was his driving force

    Tesla was about invention, being rich didn’t interest him.

    I don’t judge sucess on how much money you have, or how well off you are when you die.

    Edison wined and dined the elite, the powerful. He played politics and games.

    Tesla followed his dreams and interests, he lived his life the way he wanted to. He may have died poor and lonely with Pidgeons, but he lived a very very full life, and I’m sure he was thankful for the oportunity to use his genius.

    Personally, I’d have rather lived my life like Tesla. I’d rather pursue my dreams poor than to be rich and play all those political games. So I personally have more respect for Tesla. Plus, I can’t stand that Edison gets credit for inventing things he didn’t invent.
    While I don’t approve of him misuing westinghouses funds… I have more respect for the way Tesla lived his life as life is not all about planning.

  • kresimir

    I don’t know where the rumour comes from that Tesla was russian.
    Like others already mentioned he was Serbian, born and raised in Croatia (back then under the Austrian Empire).
    Tesla said: He is as proud of his serbian mother as he is of his native country Croatia.

    And I think Tesla was more briliant than Edison. There is still a lot of his inventions not being used yet. He was ahead of his time.

  • Real

    I’ll give it to Telsa. Most of his vision ( free energy) and inventions were not liked by the elites. We don’t know to this day what half his inventions are since the gov’t seized his notes. The dude was simply there to better humanity while Edison just saw humans as a means; a tool to get more money and increase his happiness.

  • gugue

    many documentary shows how mafious edison stole tesla´s ideas… he even eletrecuted animals to ruin tesla´s work in ~AC .

    visionary Tesla was intuitive, mystical and wanted for free energy to all!

    TESLA RULES!!

  • diego

    The smarter you are, the more you know Tesla had the genius Edison feigned to those who were too unaware to distinguish between Intelligently Applicable (Edison) and True Genius (Tesla).

    Tesla will inspire real thought for all time.
    Edison will inspire self-interested capitalism at the cost of real progress.

  • Kassahun Mammo

    My Dear
    N.Tesela is wider in his innovation and had contributed ahead of his time innovation than T Edson did. The other amazing issue is why Tesela is coverd by Edson in research and pedagogical text ? I thought that there must be some vegues beyond , but we the benifciry of Tesela mind thanks HIM. But it doent mean Edson is xyz………, he is equally important for current global civilazation
    Kassahun Mammo
    Ethiopia

    • Withney Roberetson

      10q Mr. Mammo

      U are unquestionably right!

  • http://myspace.com/paradox429 Niko

    first and foremost… Nikola Tesla was from LIKA.. He was a Croatian. His father was a serb and his mother was a hrvat… but while in croatia and even while in new york he always considered himself a croat and associated himself with croats.. this i know because my grandparents came to this country from croatia as well.. the used to associate with the man.. they attended his funeral and we’re good friends with the man who paid for Tesla’s funeral.
    Secondly.. Thomas Edison did nothing for the world that wouldn’t have been accomplished anyway. All he did was reproduce and distribute other peoples ideas and inventions for a fee. He was the biggest crook the world has seen.. Why do you think they call his company CONedison .. cause he was a CON..

    And to those of you who call Nikola Tesla a thief.. ur crazy.. either that or u have a controlling interest in GE…
    What nikola tesla did was try to give the world free wireless energy.. not just to those who could cough up a coin. Now, he couldn’t come right out and say Im building a tower with your money thats gonna give everyone free electricity.. especially if that money is made by charging for electricity.. . Do you think BIG BUSINESS would have let him introduce such a an accomplishment to the world??? it would be like bill gates making Windows open source.. you think Microsoft would let him do that?!?!?! Nikola Tesla was a modern day robin hood. My grandparents and many others always say that Nikola Tesla disliked women who wore pearls and all the glitz and glam.. he was a simple man and money held no value to him.
    Tesla has many inventions that we still use and even more that we still dont know how to use. Many of his inventions could probably fix a lot of the problems we have today. but just like with every other crooked business.. why make a problem go away when you can keep charging them to fix it.. so basically everything that nikola tesla invented is under wraps.. I would bet the house that in that little area know as AREA51 they’re probably working with his technologies or trying to get them to work anyway..
    how about the ray he shot off into the air from new york that hit russia and scortched the earth moments later.. I think they are still trying to cover it up..

    and then you still have TeslaMotors.. purely electric cars that go from 0-200 in like 3 seconds.. now if he had been allowed to finish the Wardenclyffe Tower maybe today we would be driving purely electric cars that recharged constantly and wirelessly… thus eliminating tons of polution.. etc… if he had been taken more seriously we in all seriousness could probably have been living a Star Trek type of life…
    hell.. i even heard that he invented a machine that produces artifical atmospheres.. imagine colonizing the moon or mars with his inventions ???????

    • Anon

      erm..tesla was serbian idiot…

      • John

        Edison was a thief and a businessman. You are a hell of a xenophobist.

        Jump off a cliff or get a life, nazi.

    • Don-makro

      btw at that time it was a yugoslavia( with Serbia on it heads), croatia didnt eaven exists at that time as a country, + his father was serb, after spliting yugoslavia his born place stayed in the region of todays croatia , and its only explanation how u can say he was croat.., eaven if he was a clearly serbian

    • jjaacckk

      I don’t really care what nationality was Tesla, but in several of his speeches
      he clearly stated that he was Serbian. Again it does not matter if he was a
      Serb or Croat or both, what matter is for all people to understand what he did,
      and what Edison stole from him.

  • hayley

    i have a problem with the paragraph that says edison invented DC actually that was invented by tesla when he was working for Edison. so infact Tesla Create DC, AC, and Wireless current.

  • hayley

    Also who cares if Tesla didn’t get enough patents. He was proably afraid of getting screwed over again and not getting payed. after he worked of Edison, Tesla got a job digging ditchs. Edison made threats on him about going back in to science so selling his patents was proably the best solution in his mind. And those of you who find Edison inspertational, maybe you should do some reaseach about who really created those genius things you idolize. Chances are that they came from the mind of one of his under payed workers.

  • dilara

    bence edison tam bir sahtekar. çünkü ampulü asıl nikola tesla buldu ama herkes ampulü thomas edison un bulduğunu sanıyor.

  • Titan

    Tesla is the Greatest Genius! I know of many geniuses that have lived,but none compare to the works of an unknown Nikola Tesla.His inventions are a reality today,and will be for many years.Some of his inventions are A/C Polyphase System,Radio,Remote control,X-Ray,Fluorescent lights,Microwave,Robotics,Logic Gate(computers)Tesla coil(television),Etc,etc,etc.Just see his lifes work to understand his Genius.The very principle of your mobile you use today is based on his wireless discoveries.
    Now lets look at what actually exists in the world as in “inventions”?Ask yourself what is the most amazing invention of the world?Not just theories and nonesense,but actual theories that have lead to something amazing?Lets first look at Da Vinci.Sure he was interested in many things,and had many ideas,but nothing of any use today that would amaze me.His drawings of aeroplanes were like the ones you see in old films,where they resemble flapping wings.Practically they just couldn’t fly.Now for Newton,what did he invent?His idea that what goes up must come down?Gravity?Where is the genius in that?Did you know that even his theory on Gravity cannot be proved.Thats all it is an idea,but has no explanation in the way it works.He has proved nothing with his Gravity theory!
    Great genius is from those,where ones theory leads to creation!
    There is no genius in an idea that doesn’t work,or something that has not been explained and put to use as Newtons gravity theory.
    So tell me what did Newtons theory lead to?What did he create?
    The theory of gravity is still not understood!
    Now ask yourself what is the most amazing invention of the world?I would say that 8 out of 10,whatever you choose as some great invention that is in existence,some part of Tesla would have to be there!
    That’s why I have chosen Tesla.
    Da Vinci? Hmmm, What did he invent? Fantasies in his brain?
    And Edison?
    Well his inventions today are obsolete,primative contraptions!

  • anon coward

    Here is some interesting information about Tesla from http://proliberty.com/observer/20070405.htm.

    (Deathbed confessions, photos support claims that George H. Scherf(f), Jr., was the 41st U.S. president)

    The part about Tesla is about 1/5 of the way from the top of the page.

  • Ethos

    Geez I hope whomever wrote this biased article, will do their homework next time.

  • http://www.printfection.com/murchada Marc Murphy

    I’m a fan of both great men! Edison was a great ‘producer’ and Tesla was pure genius. I designed shirts to honor both men.
    http://www.printfection.com/murchada/Nikola-Tesla-T-Shirt/_p_3824356
    http://www.printfection.com/murchada/Thomas-Edison-T-Shirt/_p_3829374

  • Pingback: Jay Antwan » Blog Archive » “There is time for everything”

  • FreeThinking101

    Time will give Nikola Telsa credit for everything that he helped create with his ideas. One idea of his is starting to come to light…his Wireless Electricity is now being put in the news and I guess someone figured out a way to measure it so they can profit. Look up wireless electricity on wikipedia and his name is all over it

    Imagine a world if JP Morgan let Tesla use his money to fund his projects? In the 100 years that we are now after his inventions do you think we would have been traveling in outer space? It sucks not having the creator of the invention alive witnessing and perfecting his creations and ideas. Im jealous not being able to know 100 years from now in which should have been my life time, and see such technologies progess…

  • Openminded75

    As mentioned by others here there are many inventions of Tesla that are still not understood or known to the general public. Isn’t it weird that Roswell happened the same year that Tesla died…were his notes stolen by our government and tested with a crash as a result? Makes you think. Telsa became an American citizen at age 28. He tried to give his ideas to our government but was turned away many times, until the day of his death and then the government stole his ideas. Some were given back to his nephew but many were not. Tesla was awarded by congress in 1992 as the inventor of radio (Marconi briefly worked with him and used Tesla ideas and patent). The Manhattan Project was based off of Tesla tech. Teleportation is Tesla tech. Even time machine type stuff. How do we know that all of our weather changes and troubles are not because of government messing with weather control (also Tesla tech)? I think Tesla stated it best…’Science is but a perversion of itself unless it has as it’s ultimate goal the betterment of humanity’ – Nikola Tesla 1919. Many of his known and unknown ideas are used for profit and power. Mind control, weather control, power control, radio control, remote control etc. If we could live in a Tesla world we would have few if any worries. Free power, free energy, free travel, purification of the body, if there still were weapons a Tesla shield would protect… so many things that the general public does not know. Makes me sad, but posts from people like us that spread his spirit and ideas on will never let him die. We are still learning and gaining from his ideas! Just hope that they too do not turn for profit and suppression! Telsa in his end days was obsessed with the number 3, which if you are into numerology would know that 3 is very important as it adds up to and goes into many numbers such as 9 which is the highest number! Most people think that Tesla was a bit of a crackpot, and even to this day when one does not understand another’s far out ideas they are labeled crazy. Funny thing is they are most not crazy just more visionary, analytical, open minded, and more in tune with cosmic reality!

  • Gordon S.

    I’m a product of the Canadian school system. I’m 45 now, but when I went to school, I don’t remember ever hearing ANYTHING about Tesla (or even his name).
    The teachers might have mentioned his name, but maybe in a passing, minor way. I don’t think they even mentioned him at all though.
    Everything was about Thomas Edison as far as electricity goes.
    The first time I ever heard of Nikola Tesla was on Coast to Coast AM (George Noory). When I heard his name, I thought it was some obscure thing, not a legitimate person who did contribute many great inventions.
    I don’t know the reason why Tesla is left out of the schoolbooks, but he was not a native American, he was born in the modern area of Croatia.
    Could it be that the American (and Canadian) textbooks only mention Edison because he is an American (born in the US), whereas Tesla was not? Just a thought.

  • Dave MacPhee

    It is strange how I can feel such a strong dislike for someone that lived so long ago.
    My work over the last 35 years makes me identify with the work ethic of Tesla.
    Tesla did not like getting ripped off but knew himself to always have something better coming so he let it go. Unfortunately, that does not solve anything. The problem will just keep happening and he keeps getting robbed of any credit or gain.

    So it’s back to the drawing board again with something different, a new project. A Vicious circle. No time to fight. Too busy concentrating on creating and maintaining focus on that creation. Can’t afford distractions. Work until he drops.

    Then you have these people looking in and making all these promises.

    That’s why I hate Edison. I have worked for plenty like him. They are rich now and I can’t go any more. I have nasty names for people like him that don’t belong in a nice place like this.

  • DarkKnight

    Happy Birthday Tesla.
    In the eyes on the unbiased Tesla was light years more intelligent than Edison. Anyone who does a small bit of unbiased research would know this. Edison is credited with hundreds of mostly useless and stolen inventions. Edison was a sell-out and his goal in life was to outshine Tesla. Which isn’t hard to do when you are an American and the other guy is a Serb. Without the AC electric motor everyone would be in the dark. So humanity owes Telsa a huge THANK-YOU. He also invented the Tesla Coil, the fluorescent light, the blade less turbine and also created concepts of: radar, robots, computers, vertical take-off aircraft, wireless power transmission and remote control guidance system. He created things that no other human being could even fathom. Tesla is still and I think will always be ahead of him time. Tesla said “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 have really worked, is mine.”

  • http://Private John

    Nikola Tesla seems like a very intriguing personality, but it is very unfortunate that he attracts so many dull and silly people as the vast majority that have posted on this place.

    It’s funny how his biggest supporters are people who can’t even spell or are so incoherent that they dwell on just plain silliness.

    Most of you are just projecting your own frustrations and insecurities when it comes to the debate between Tesla vs Edison. Stop doing this as it is not just a very childish thing to do but also extremely disrespectful.

    Whatever the truth may be, let it come out on its own.

  • YONIE

    who am i to judge who was better than who. all i feel worthy of is giving an opinion with whatever knowledge i do have on the subject. somwthing i do know is that history is open to interpretation. everyone is entitled to their say. everything depends on the lens we look through. when i was a child i believed columbus discovered america, now looking at it from a different perspective, after seeking my own truth, i’ve come to know something totally different. what we learn in school has a tremedous impact on our perceptions and sometimes we never look beyond that box we were taught to see through. t. edison is someone whom i know of due to this education system, a system that tends to give a walt disney version of the truth. never did i ever hear of n. telsa in school. nor did i hear about numerous great men and women out there now or in the past that have accomplished great things. that is something i think we should all keep in mind. we don’t all make it down that narrow path of success, yet in some other dimension of reality, what we do in action with our hearts counts on a level that our 5 senses can’t see. im sure t.edison and n. telsa were both great men, each with their own genious and contributions just like others we can compare like m. l. king and malcom x. can’t have one without the other. personally i’d choose malcom if i had to choose, but without king’s sufferings as well, things would be different today wouldn’t they.

  • LA:Cali

    No doubt that Tesla was brilliant, but Edison was definitely more influential and more of a hustler too. Edison won under the survival for the fittest. If Tesla agreed to work for Edison then Edison was definitely a smarter person. but both of their inventions are appreciated by the society but Edison gets more credit because he was much more productive than Tesla whether he hired 5 million people to help him or not

    • Don-marko

      haha ofc he would start working for edison he was an immigrant he came to usa with a suitcase and nothing else he have to earn some money at first to make living, after tesla died his notebook was taken by usa guvermant, and they are still not able to understand tesla work eaven after 100 years, imagine what would tesla do if he had the knowledge avaible today and internet. all his invventions are stilll in use while edison are replaced. 

    • Mario

      Absolutely.  A great genius does not always work in the dark, alone, delusional and paranoid.  Sometimes they work an assembly line of individuals who can and will get the job done right!  What a lot of people don’t understand is, if left up to Tesla, we may have never been so advanced because of his complete lack of social no how.  Even if he had been a hundred years ahead of Edison, tech-wise, what good would have done, if it took a hundred plus years to get out?  Just like so many are claiming, Tesla this and Tesla that, how many more years is it going to take for some of his inventions to finally come to light?  As I said, he may have been a hundred or more years as advanced, but what difference did it make when we still don’t have a bit of what he was claiming to have invented?  That aside, we do love our Tesla though!

      • Mario

        Oops, I spelled “know how” wrong.  Oh, well, you get my point.

  • Steve

    I hate to admit it but Edison was more productive. Though the use of AC ubiquitous I find that Edison created a greater number of inventions I find useful. I do think Tesla was more brilliant and that Edison was a ruthless and cruel opportunist.

    • scienceorc

      Quality over quantity. Besides, Tesla was on the verge of discovering anti gravity, ray guns, and he successfully transmitted electricity. Tesla is the god of lightning. Edison is the king thief of dickary.

  • Dragan

    Nikola Tesla is born in Croatia but he is pure Serbian. On June 1st 1892, Tesla have a speech in Belgrade, Serbia:
    “There is something within me that might be illusion as it is often case with young delighted people, but if I would be fortunate to achieve some of my ideals, it would be on the behalf of the whole of humanity. If those hopes would become fulfilled, the most exiting thought would be that it is a deed of a Serb. Long live Serbdom!…” Tesla further said to the students of Belgrade University: “As you can see and hear, I have remained a Serb overseas where I have done some researches. You should do so and by your knowledge and hard work you should glorify Serbdom over the world.”

  • Dragan

    had a speech

  • David MacPhee

    Hey John on July the 11th!

    I enjoyed all the postings here. Did you really read them? It is kind of neat that this topic has attracted so many intelligent thinking people for so long.

    Well, welcome but you wrote in such strange way. Are you a boss or something? Don’t care much about insubordination?

    I wonder. If someone was to pick up any random books about each, Edison and Tesla, Which books would have more real facts?

  • David MacPhee

    I was thinking that if Tesla was alive today and got a look at our nuclear reactors, he would be astounded!

    He would laugh his head off and say he could do better than that and prove it!

    He would say “Hey! That’s nothing more than an over-rated steam engine!”

    If Tesla had found the cure for aging, by now he would have given the world nano-powered batteries more powerful than a locomotive.

  • richard barnette

    they were both great men tesla could build anything and tried . edison could steal anything and did

  • David MacPhee

    * Sigh *

    I wish that I could be reborn and learn from this life before starting over.

    I am blessed with such a flexible mind but abuse in the workplace destroys all that.

  • David MacPhee

    Can you imagine what Tesla could do if he had our access to the information Highway?

    What would Edison do with it…. ?

    What.. Get Rich without picking on Tesla?

  • David MacPhee

    There must be two ends of something in our world. The start and the end. Tesla was the start and Edison was the natural end.

    Ka Chink Ka Chink!!

    If You are fami liar with anatomy, You look at the Torso first, and you do it top to bottom. Then you turn it around and see what comes out.

    You can trace that matter and find a boss creature.

  • Thomas Bendoraitis

    You can’t compare Tesla with Edison. Tesla was like a believer, he pursued discovery and proof of his theories whilst Edison pursued the schekel, and essentially the age old “fame and fortune” at any price. Edison might have won a management prize like the studio owner who discovered Elvis, J.Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis etc. Yes he did that, but he couldn’t sing or write songs sooooo………

  • surprised

    Is this some kind of joke? A lot of business in the world is done by snub and wicked, Edison is one of such greatest. This article sounds like “Making the money is most important. Edison made it by being snub, and Tesla didn’t. That’s why Tesla destroyed himself. The authors are surely a jirk!!! :)

  • surprised

    Anyone who thinks Tesla suck should just turn off the electricity power button right now and drop dead in the darkness!!! You gullible people!!

  • http://www.sap.com sunkiter

    very interesting forum with valuable feedback and reactions. it is nearly impossible to be unbiased here, and it is difficult to compare quality and quantity. comparing their psyches and personal character, creativity, visionary capacity, scientific versus sales capabilities. We’re all unique in this world. It’s a matter of taste, even. I definitely have more affinity with Tesla and not much with Edison, independent of the number of google hits. Tesla for me is the absolute genius, if a fraction of his remaining ideas would have really been applied, we would live in a different world today, imagine that!

  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla Utilitheo

    Why even bother to compare? there is simply no comparison to Tesla. but now that exactly these 2 names have to be compared: selflessness can only be seen next to greed, light only is manifested upon darkness. Edison vanishes in comparison to Tesla. but this world needs crooked people in order to be saved, apparently. I feel sorry for anyone trying to defend Edison in an attempt to do justice to corrupt history books and violated physics class content. May everyone one day see the light, and the rest of Tesla’s inventions come into reality. Thank you Tesla. We all need to know our place. Even Tesla wasn’t “the light of the world” because we all have our limitations. and I am sure Edison must have had some nice character traits, but his dark side is what people remember. It’s like agressors in a war, you want to remember what they did, because this is the only way not to forget evildoers and their damage to human society

  • http://rmiadfire.webs.com tommy

    tesla inventions show how brilliant scientist he was, and edision just used him. he still owns him over 50 million dollars. that money should be given to village of Smiljane where Tesla was born.

  • Robert

    As Tesla said. “The present is theirs. The future is mine.” The military stole his secrets as others, because he was not a savvy capitalist. He may have been a little wreckless with his ideas. It does disturb me that those that “make the better light bulb”, don’t necessarily get the credit, and many times the better “automobile engine” is shut down, just for purposes of some money hoarding person or group, wanting to keep exclusive rights to making a hundred million more gas guzzlers, so they can keep the market cornered. The corruption of greed is the thing that Tesla was not competent at. He was a loner. I think the future will show that Tesla was more the victim of a capitalist environment, than lacking ideas.

  • jesus christ

    i think edison won. because he created machines that help make work easier. like machines that help make the form of cheese puffs. from oumpa lumpas. you who i think beat both of was jesus christ with his pimped out porshce with spinners, hydrolics, and a mexican and african(chris tucker)

    • Don-marko

      hahaha man u are way to stypid to be involeved in this conversation.., speak no more plz.

  • shut up

    HMM whose better uhh NIKOLA everyone in the world CEPT united states uses nikola teslas way of the invention of electricity

  • ahahahhahahahaha

    yea i agree with edison tesla was better (yes edison said he had betraide and copied nikola tesla)

  • Milan

    Nikola Tesla. Anyone who says other, doesn’t understand engineering and is watching too much PBS and reading The American Statist Journal way too much.

  • Chet

    Correct me if I am wrong, but didnt Edison invent the porn industry?

  • Nenad

    It breaks down into this:
    1. Tesla was much brighter than Edison
    2. Tesla did not value money as much as Edison
    3. Edison is more of a corrupt businessman than an inventor.
    4. Edison is a thief.
    5. Tesla tried to make our lives easier, while Edison only cared about your money.
    6. Wardenclyffe collapse was most likely an inside job.
    7. No businessman/economist would like Tesla because he would make them all bankrupt.
    8. He would probably be the richest man in the world.
    9. The government stole his work and can’t even figure out how to make any of it.

    End of story. There is no productivity/unproductivity. Tesla gave us a chance and we fucked it up. Maybe if he didn’t make his experiments in the US, he wouldn’t be ripped off, cheated and drown in the ditch after his hard work. All beautiful minds come from elsewhere, certainly not from America. Businessman inventors are the productivity of capitalism, or restate.. evil.

    • Bisquick

      Okay, that’s just dumb. The automobile, computer, air conditioning, airplane, glasses, etc. were all invented in America. Also your “breakdown” is just you putting down subjective and (mostly false) arguments.

  • John Syd Paraggua

    i’m from the philippines and we were always taught in grade school that edison was a great american inventor.we never heard of tesla.our system of education were based from the americans,because they occupied us for 5 years during ww2.i heard about tesla when i was in college from my cousin taking up electrical engineering.i did’nt mind him then,it is only now that i’ve realized how great this inventor was.

  • http://nao31.deviantart.com Gab

    Tesla. Sure he wasn’t a great marketer but he thought about the future and our technology today is mainly based of of Tesla’s inventions and ideas.

  • Moises

    O autor desse texto certamente é americano, está defendendo Thomas Edson por ser americano…Edson morreu rico porque roubou muitos inventos de seus ajudantes e colaboradores. Ele é glorificado como inventor da lampada, nas escolas do EUA isso é ensinado como verdade, mas Thomas Edson nunca inventou a lampada, ele a roubou de Sir Joseph Shaw. Também roubou Tesla. Thomas Edson era um aprimorador e não inventor. Sou americano do sul, mas tenho que reconhecer o croata Tesla como o melhor.

  • morgwar

    Edison was better at selling his stuff, but tesla was pure genius. Edison did it for the money, but Tesla did it for the science.

  • Dave Glover

    My education is electronics so these two men are of particular interest to me.

    I can sum up a comparison of these two men in two simple ways:

    As a Businessman Inventor, Edison is the hands down winner.
    As an Inventor Businessman, Tesla is the hand down winner.

    I believe Edison was in many ways overrated, i.e. the Light Bulb
    while Tesla on the other hand was equally underrated, i.e. Radio.

    In the long run they both wound up with there strengths prevailing. Edison died rich and very famous and Tesla won the technology battle with his AC power system that the world uses today vs. Edison’s DC system that was install in New York and later abandon and replaced with Tesla’s AC system.

    Dave

    • Jd1021jd

      Edison’s DC system was used in cars…. He was friends with Henry Ford. Does YOUR car have an AC power system?

  • rory

    A complete joke
    tesla sometimes worked days on end with only 30 mins sleep per day then would collapse at the end of this. edison sure he had an entire army (AKA people who could steal patents off) but then is it really edisons work if other people do it for him. Also telsa was more of a scientist a discoverer and had little use for patents because he did not care for money read any book or article summing up everything telsa did discovery wise completely outweighs what ever edison ever did. people like telsa who do not care for money end up making the better and bigger difference to humanity than those just in it for the money. Even though tesla had powerful connections he was too ahead of his time for people to even contemplate what he was talking about and every one alienated him instead of the other way around. frankly i think it is ridiculous that edison is even compared to tesla

    • scienceorc

      I agree. Edison sucks because the scientific method never mentions profit…or killing elephants.

  • http://www.lifehack..org Okungu

    Hahahahaha!It was not about contrast of personalities or what acomplishments in life but order in society,ie in the case of chicken and egg(so should be the contrast between an invenor and engineer) this is regadless of significant achievments in there life time.

  • http://[email protected] joey west

    edions inventions are well known an public wich makes you think that he was more productive what you dont know and the us government does not want you to know is that they have hidden and kept secret many of teslas inventions due to their nature and what they were capable of doing things like time travel or electrical alternative currents wich is the idea that thru one of his inventions you could travel thru time in a sense not you yourself but an electrical alternat of your being many of these things could greatly change mankind yet the government will never reveal them ask yourself why a man who produced many of edisons inventions died broke and alone while edison rich with many powerful influences tesla saw past the ovious of possibilitys with electric current many things that are still being analyzed by top scientist in the government teslas plasma ray a inventions that could stop a nuclear weapon if shot with this is one of many things he had invented that they dont want you to know about think the microwave was at least twenty years old before the governmant marketed it to the public what else are they keepin from us many great things i promise you i have seen this and many other things that would greatly change the world for the better they are liars and as long as we just stand by they will continue to have things that could help medically scientificaly and economicaly this is the truth of the great tesla

  • no doubt

    Edison is nothing more than a Ferengi from Star Trek serial. Profit, profit and only profit, no matter what. I believe that most of the people still think that Edison invented a light-bulb, which is actually wrong. The same design of a light-bulb existed 20 years prior to Edison’s patent date in US. He lost the light-bulb story in court too. As much as I know, Edison was a telegraph operator with a low educational background. He used everything he could to discredit Tesla. So, I’ll just skip talking furthermore about that guy. In my opinion, he is disgusting. Comparing Edison to Tesla is absurd.

    • Lemonglittersparklesxd

      You obviously need to go and die…
      Tesla wins…
      Case closed…

      But seriously, go and die. Turn off everything and go die.

  • Robert

    Uhmmmm, Let me see if I get this straight: You are saying that Edison was better than Tesla. Okay, turn off your computer and any other AC-powered appliance in your home (furnace/ac, televison, stove and yes, even lights).

    Plus, it’s kinda’ ironic that you’re typing this comparison using AC power – the very thing that Tesla invented!!! And, your observation that “perhaps many of them” (Edison’s inventions) were bought or “stolen” from someone else, suggests the very reason that one would have to agree that Tesla is clearly the winner. What kind of an inventor is an inventor, who stole inventions from other people, like you say that Edison did?

    Tesla rules and is hands-down, the far better of the two. Edison is nothing more than a capitalist, who only liked only one thing more than money, and that was more of it.

  • Al Shurgalla

    Tesla. It’s not even close. Edison was full of sour grapes and commercial ambition while Tesla was a true scientist and engineer.

  • Will Tijerina

    Tesla. Just inventing the “Earthquake Machine” otherwise known as the Tesla Oscillator does it for me. Oh yeah, and a little thing known as A/C current. Even if he had never invented anything more than that,cements his legacy.

  • doobs

    here is the only problem. Im an croation who lives in the usa and everyone knows edison but no one knows of tesla. Give the man some credit and put him in text books.

    • Observer2-10

      that is so true , most every body thinks that EDISON invented light bulb ! very few know what a genius TESLA was

  • mary

    Nikola Tesla is 20th century! Thanks to him we have everything we have today which helps our daily lifes. A wonderful man!!!!!!

  • Brian

    Edison was a scumbag. Edison did better because he had more money to start with. He used Tesla by offering him a huge contract to come to america and when Tesla did what he was asked edison screwed him over. Edison was better at marketing because he had alot of money to deal with and no morales.

  • Kriston

    How is it possible for Edison to even be considered productive? One can not be a productive inventor when they didn’t invent anything. Just because he filed more patents than Tesla it doesn’t mean that he was productive, just that he knew his way around paperwork. Anyone that claims to be inspired by this cold, thuggish, thieving hack is completely ignorant to what kind of man he was.

    Tesla didn’t file as many patents because he was actually inventing things. Had Edison actually bothered trying to invent things, then he wouldn’t have had nearly the time to invent enough things worthy of 1000+ patents. Inventing takes time and there’s no way he could possibly have had the time to legitimately invent that many things. Even still, he only filed a little over 100 patents in the US, but worldwide it was more like 700.

    Edison had promised Tesla $50,000 if he could improve on his DC power (and thus save Edison money). Obviously Telsa invented A/C power (and by invented, I don’t mean stole, which is something only Edison would do). Edison reneged on his offer and when Tesla went to collect his money, Edison said “You don’t understand our American humor” and basically gave Tesla the finger as payment.
    While Tesla was gaining notoriety and busy inventing things, Edison was busy trying to discredit him. So, thanks to Edison’s asshatery, we have the electric chair (which he did not invent). If not for Edison’s insane jealousy, we wouldn’t have had the electric chair…which killed countless animals during it’s initial testing.

    Edison’s patents of stolen inventions could also never compare to the legitimate inventions of Tesla. Though more numerous, Tesla has the distinction of having invented things that would have been so revolutionary and/or dangerous that they were confiscated by the government before they could see the light of day. That’s a distinction that Edison and his army of other people’s inventions can’t claim.

    Though slightly humorous and a little offbeat, mor info on Telsa can be read here:
    http://www.cracked.com/funny-284-nikola-tesla/

    Basically, Edison’s “inventions” could never be appreciated or have the same potential as they had without Tesla’s A/C Power.

    If Edison was around today and was exposed like this, then it would be a big scandal and the only mention of his name would be in reference to how he was shamed by his own greed. Think about how insane everyone went when Milli Vanilli were exposed for lip-synching to other people’s voices and add that to what happened when James Frey’s book “A Million Little Pieces” was exposed as being a pack of lies and then multiply it by 1000…that’s how bad it would be.
    As for the fact that Tesla lied to his investors about what he was working on so that he could work on another project, that’s such a joke compared to Edison’s plagarism and ruthless greed. Tesla wouldn’t have needed the backing of investors to the extent that he did had Edison simply paid him his promised $50,000. Tesla still would have even worked with/for Edison had he simply paid him…thus the electric chair would never have been invented (by someone that wasn’t Edison) in the first place. Could you imagine a genius with talent like Telsa’s being backed by someone with the financial means and marketing skills of someone like Edison? Who knows where we’d be if that happened.

    And, Telsa also kind of predicted the internet: “The household’s daily newspaper will be printed ‘wirelessly’ in the home during the night”. That sounds suspiciously like every news source on the internet, does it not?

  • Richard

    tesla …..i am not certain but does that have something to do with testicles?

    Edison. His middle name was alva….that suspiciously sounds a lot like vulva.

    I think that each man was a potential cross dresser and had genius at the same time.
    I am glad they both lived.

    Roy Masters on the other hand has to be the epitome of what is unknown in this world.
    He would have helped both of them remain calm in a static and forever changing world.

  • Mark

    Edison inspired people ? he was a thief, how can you be inspired by that ? He stole ideas from others to make himself rich, GE is the outcome of it, looks like thats how we American’s do it, we are a bunch of crocks and thiefs, nothing has changed, we are the same scumbags as the ones who came here, killed teh Indians, stole there land and raped there woman…we steal from others to get rich ourselves, shame on us all.

  • Joey Fisher

    If you look at the patents of both of these Inventors, you will see many inventions of Edison that are patented are ‘improvements’ on previous patents both his or other inventors. Tesla held the patents on many various inventions that are essential and still used devices and technologies that we cannot live without in modern society, Tesla was in my opinion the superior inventor and a true genious. Edison was the superior marketing mind as he grew up in america and truly knew how to exploit public opinion and keep hisself in the spotlight. Tesla being an immigrant only knew ‘the american dream’ as it was envisioned around the world and knew nothing of PR and marketing.

  • Jorge

    who even dares to compare genius like Tesla with this person????? i will not even say his name cause he didnt deserve it and that one about 10% inspiration describes him well.. so much about geniality.. Tesla was one of the most brilliant man who ever lived on this planet

  • GK15

    Tesla all the way. He should be held in the same if not higher regard than Albert Einstein. He wasn’t interested in wealth as much as maintaining enough money to finance his research. He sustained enough slander and sabotage to damage his reputation and mental health to the point where he’s even comparable to Edison.

    Edison was more of an entrepreneur, businessman, and more interested in solidifying his reputation. That’s admirable to an extent, but he can’t really be compared to Tesla.

    Tesla invented wireless electricity and could have given it to the entire world for free if his investors hadn’t backed out!
    He was ahead of his time in every way imaginable.

  • Dellis25

    i still love tesla and believe that he is the smartest man to walk this earth. he did things with electricity that people are to afraid to even attempt now adays.

  • http://- vergilya

    Sound like Edison was an aggressive businessman and Tesla was an artist.

  • http://n/a Jeff E

    Sounds like our good ole ‘american way’.

    Whoever can manage to make boatloads of money is the greater man eh?
    Tesla was mentally ill,but the guy was a genius on the same level as an Einstein!

    Tesla was astounded by the fact that Edison had to tinker forever to come up with inventions that Tesla could have figured out by using calculation and thought in about 1% of the time that it took Edison.

    The more that I research, Tesla gets the big thumbs up and Edison gets the middle finger.

    So you get to hear me rant about the American money mongers,Rockafella,J.P.Morgan,..Edison…

    Lift up the name ‘TESLA” and I’m gonna do all I can to bring down this false idea that Edison was a great inventer. Peace

    • Don-marko

      lol mentaly ill? are u serious

      • plasmaball36

        he was prone to have small seizures and visions, which he learned to control as he grew older

  • Hanko

    Even in 2009 New York Times talked about Marconi’s invention -the radio- how long will the lies persist against Tesla,I questioned it and mentioned that in 1945 Tesla won the courtcase posthumesly and the answer was-it’s a matter of perception ! If you persist long enough with lies,the truth will disappear

  • dudlete

    Telsa ftw. Edison was a fraud who didn’t come up with much of his “products”. His own inventions weren’t that great either and were outshone by Telsa, eg: Edison actually PAID Telsa to innovate much of his technology then cheated him later on, AC > DC, etc. So what if Telsa blindsided a couple of investors? At least he didn’t freakin’ steal people’s inventions then call it his own, like jackass Edison did. Telsa claimed people’s misplaced financial investments, which isn’t even half as bad since he did it all in the name of Science. Edison, on the other hand, did it for the money. What a whore.

  • illumin8

    Does everything have to be turned into a compitetion for sensationalist media purposes?
    They both contributed vastly.
    Sometimes I think we are so polarized about things these days that we are about as much good as DC over long distances. We need an AC mindset.

  • jake

    History is written by the victors. Tesla never got credit for many of the things he patented and invented YEARS (and in many cases decades) before they were even considered truth rather than science fiction. There’s no doubt in my mind that if Tesla had the resources and didn’t have to worry about Edison’s bull****, we would have practically free energy and no dependance on oil. Edison was a great inventor, when he wasn’t stealing ideas and inventions from others. But Nikola Tesla is the rightful father of electricity that history never gives him credit for. Why? because in this day and and age, history is written by the guy who makes/steals all the money. Not to mention that bastard edison killed animals to test his inventions.

    You want to learn the truth about Edison and Tesla? RESEARCH. The truth is there, you just have to find it.

    “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 have really worked, is mine.” -Nikola Tesla

  • Jesse

    Edision DID NOT invent the light bulb merely along with others (who did not have JP Morgan backing them up) improved on it. Please know your info before writing an article- just google and you'll see!

  • Mike

    The sheer numbers of Edison's patents are not as impressive as the magnitude of the few that Tesla had. Thomas Edison was an opportunist, a marketer of stolen ideas.

    It's a shame that Tesla business savvy was not as prodigious as his inventive mind, but I'll take him over Edison any day.

  • paul

    put tesla & edison in two separate rooms with identical machinery,tools,& equipment then let them invent to their hearts content TESLA will win hands down.{dont forget edison employed an army of engineers to do his inventing}

    • Shawn

      the only way edison could win is if u put people in the room so he could hire them to invent for him. he was a GREAT businessman i give him that, but not anything near tesla in the way of inventing. TESLA is my hero

  • Rudy

    Tesla wrote in some of his writing that in that time it was too early for the world to see his inventions. Many of his writing are missing, and nobody could find it.

    • Lemonglittersparklesxd

      There was a fire in his basement (where half of his life’s work was). All of that is gone… I bet you either Marconi or Edison and his goons did it…

      Luckily, Mr. Tesla (the rockin’ Serb) was not at home.

  • me

    edison is a ******… he is early steve jobs (stealing ideas, having stupid patens etc.), but tesla is the man

  • Mary

    Tesla was a horrible business man, but he is much smarter than Edison. Edison is a much better business man though.

  • Mohsen M.

    It is definitely TESLA , i became a fan of his by reading his life story ….. may his soul rest in peace
    and for EDISON , he should have bowed to TESLA .

  • junny

    What a joke, why not write an article over which one was prettier? Look at it like this if Edison never existed we would probably be at the same level technologically, maybe even better off since he seemed to hinder the work of Tesla. However if Tesla never existed we could be around 30-50 years back technologically, we just don’t get many people that gifted, scientists are still trying to understand some of his work.

  • Jack Haze

    OMG people is this even a discussion?? Tesla invented AC electricity! Electricity as we know it. The world wouldnt be where it is today without AC electricity. Look out your windows and you see Tesla all around!

  • umar

    Tesla was better than Edison.He was honest unlike Edison and of course his work isn’t less than that of Edison. I’m one of his fans.

  • Bill

    Nikola Tesla invented.
    Thomas Edison paid people to invent.
    One is a genius and the other is a businessman
    I leave it to you to figure out which is which.

    • Carlos

      Tesla grew up in a poor family.
      Edison never had to worry about money.
      Many people dont know what hungry is.
      I leave it to you to figure out which is which.

    • N7aze

      I agree one hundred percent,I have a book of Tesla’s inventions,evidently He also invented a light bulb,maybe
      Edison stole that also……

      • plasmaball36

        He invented a completely new idea of a light bulb, whats that? Fluorescent? What is everyone switching to now?

        • Anonymous

          Unfortunately, Fluorescent is not very good for our brains and well being in general.  There have been a number of studdies conducted proving that it is linked to several ailments, including depression, cancers and anxiety.  The very short range of the light spectrum provided by this form of light can be dangerous when used as the only form of light source.  On top of that, it is dangerous to dispose of, due to the toxins involved in its tubing. 

        • Anonymous

          Unfortunately, Fluorescent is not very good for our brains and well being in general.  There have been a number of studdies conducted proving that it is linked to several ailments, including depression, cancers and anxiety.  The very short range of the light spectrum provided by this form of light can be dangerous when used as the only form of light source.  On top of that, it is dangerous to dispose of, due to the toxins involved in its tubing. 

      • scienceorc

        He invented flouresent, baby! Edison “invented” (more like employed people to invent for him) Direct current, Tesla made Alternating current! So anything Edison could do Tesla could do better!!!

        • Mario

          Flouresent lighting is not very good for the eye, mind or mood.  It is a very limited light source spectrum-wise.  It has been reported to alter people’s moods in a very negative way, especially in jails and offices.  Read all about it.  I like both, ac/dc baby all the way! 

      • scienceorc

        He invented flouresent, baby! Edison “invented” (more like employed people to invent for him) Direct current, Tesla made Alternating current! So anything Edison could do Tesla could do better!!!

      • scienceorc

        He invented flouresent, baby! Edison “invented” (more like employed people to invent for him) Direct current, Tesla made Alternating current! So anything Edison could do Tesla could do better!!!

  • William Smith

    Nickolai tesla was the greatest scientist that ever lived he was better than edison (as edison was a lying theif he also burned down teslas lab) tesla made great contributes to society.I belive he really did make an earthqauke generator and the light bulb edison stole the plans for. Edison was a piece of crap he did invent because of edison tesla died broke and pennyless we should treat edisons MeMory like crap and spread the word about tesla and respect his memory I rest my Case

    • scienceorc

      Edison didn’t even invent. He payed others minimum wage to invent for him

  • William Smith

    by the way tesla Rules

  • becauseisaidso

    What a boneheaded, irresponsible article! Do us all a favor, bro’: Next time you pose a literary argument such as this, don’t just regurgitate information from your high school textbook excerpts. This poorly formed commentary is misleading and doesn’t even come close in describing the “basic” contribution, perils, and essence of each inventor.

    • N7aze

      You should study Your history a bit,instead of talking like that, I’mm88 yrs and still enjoy learning and this is not just high school info,it’s good reliable history and everyone should give it a try!

      • scienceorc

        Tesla was better! Except it!!

  • Edison?Don’tMakemeLaugh.

    “Likewise, a deceitful Tesla managed to convince J.P. Morgan, the world’s most powerful financier at the time, to finance his concept for wireless free electricity production under the guise of sending radio messages across the oceans and to and from ships at sea. Tesla was making artificial lightning with Morgan’s money that was eventually cut off. ”

    That’s a bit biased don’t you think? Comparing plagiarism (Edison) to accusations of fraud (Tesla) hardly seems fair considering the circumstances. For the first part, your argument places both of these ‘criminal acts’ on a similar pedestal, though they’re highly different in weight. As an artist (of sorts) myself, I would consider intellectual theft to be the worst kind of crime to be comitted.

    With your argument sorted out, onto extraneous circumstances.

    Consider:
    The greatest innovators of our time have rarely been known for their delightful wit and charming social representation. The greatest innovators and thinkers of our time had no need to be bothered by such material, earthly concerns. They had goals much nobler than the everyday capitalistic businessman. They looked to the stars, set their sights for the greater good of mankind, or, at least, immortalization in the great scientific arena. Assuming we place Tesla in this same position, it would be safe to assume that he was only interested in the pursuit of knowledge, as his life story has shown us. Do you think trivial matters such as money interested him? Probably only to a degree, if only to further his own knowledge, as his so-called ‘fraud’ has shown us. In fact, if my sources are correct, Morgan only cancelled the deal because of the costs involved, and not due to fraud. I’d go on and on, but you probably won’t even read this.

    You sir, have my disdain.
    Good luck, and “Happy Birthday” to that thieving Edison.
    Thank You.

    • Zevn7tp

      Not only is what this man is saying is correct. Just to add a little insight, Tesla wasn’t talked about very much in schools when I was growing up. But Edison was smeared all over the chalk boards of America. Hhhmmm? Why is that? Tesla’s inventions were far more superior and other worldly. ADVANCED, for a lack of a better term. Our own dark forces (Black Ops) in place today are utilizing more of Tesla’s work than Edison’s. Pure speculation? Okay fine, but don’t say that without research to see for yourself. You know what they say, if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, it probably is a duck. Hopefully this will strike a seed of interest in those who have an idea of what I’m talking about.

      Anyway, Have a great day Edison, after all it is your birthday.
      I’m sure you both know the truth of who’s truly a more brilliant scientist and inventor.
      Think like Edison and we have the miserable business only world we live in today.
      Think like Tesla and we will see (the future) a more educated, happier, greatly advanced humanity living in peace and harmony with one another.

      • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1654873707 Julie Perry

        In reply to your comment “Tesla wasn’t talked about very much in schools when I was growing up. But Edison was smeared all over the chalk boards of America. Hhhmmm? Why is that?”~~~~~~~~~~~~ That has been a question of mine for years.. I didnt learn what an a** Edison was, or what a genius Tesla was till a few years ago.. And Ive been out of school for 15 years… Just pisses me off!! Edison was a buisness man, thats it!!  Tesla was a pure genius!! My daughter came home the other day, shes in (4th grade), talking about how cool Edison was, he invented this and that…… So, we sat down and had a long talk… Now she knows the truth..  :) All we can do is make sure our kids know the truth, because the schools sure are not teaching the truth.. 

        • Observer2-10

          I agree with you , Edison was more of a businessman than an inventor

        • scienceorc

          I’m happy you educated your kids. All parents should do this. Spread the word that Tesla is the best! Everybody ought to know! Long live Nikola Tesla! Some day, Tesla’s steampunk wonderland will come true. This will only happen once his legacy is known far and wide. Edison, your an American joke. 

      • jjaacckk

        We are not talking about many things in American schools.
        Example; We are try to hide truth that first man to leave earth orbit was not American,
        but Russian, but then we still talk about Allen Sheppard as the “first” in space,
        no one learning the true that Jury Gagarin was first, how many hours did you
        spend in school studding Gagarin’s first flight? Probably none, or was it just occasionally
        mentioned as a unimportant subject, right? We are also talking about our first woman
        in space, but we are never teaching in our schools that first woman in space
        was also Russian, same as first manmade object on Venus, first manmade object
        on mars was not American, first man maid satellite was not American, first man
        maid space station was not American, and first man maid object on the moon was
        not American, also as we know today first man maid object generally in space
        was not American. First experimental animal that was sent in space was not
        American.  Please let me know how many
        people in America know about, yes we don’t teach people many things in school.
        And you are totally right, Edison was great businessman and Tesla was probably
        the best inventor that ever walked on the planet Earth, Just because you did
        not learn this in school you should educate you self any other way. Oh by the
        way Tesla was Serbian-American, don’t take this against him.

        • Mario

          First man maid?  What?  Was the man a maid???  Obviously, you are right, they don’t teach alot in American schools.  Lol.  Anyway, when I was in school (American) I learned about all of these people.  We study more American people because it is all about competition here.  Without business, funding can be pretty skimpy, especially if the regime is not up to it, and you are on their sh$#t list.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Sergio-Braga-de-Souza/100001360883960 Sergio Braga de Souza

        nicola tesla,foi o maior genio do mundo..enquanto edson queria dinheiro,dinheiro e+ dinheiro para si mesmo,tesla queria dinheiro para por pra fora as suas geniais ideias para dar energia eletrica de graça a todo o planeta..isso incomodou os capitalistas como edson que tinha uma gigantesca influencia e usou para prejudicar tesla,edson comprava e roubava as ideias de gente rica em inteligencia e pobre em dinheiro..tesla era um que foi enganado por edson que aprimorava as patentes ,como bill gates fez com a XEROX e criou a microsoft..definitivamente  NICOLA TESLA  foi o genio mais criativo e estranho que o mundo teve…chegaram ate dizer que ele era um extraterrestre de tao extra-inteligente que era..o mundo vive ligado em 110 ou 220 AC de NICOLA TESLA.

      • http://twitter.com/HeauMane Heau Mane

        Black Ops the game?

    • Kbobdc3

      tesla wasn’t making artificial lightning at that period he was developing the world broadcasting system and it produced sparks from a tesla coil that was used to broadcast transmissions

      • Plasmaball36

        he was creating a system that allows electricity to travel accross tha atmosphere hundreds of miles at a time, and one that could be accessed for free. An ideal. Everyone, poor or rich could use it. Sadly it never came true

        • Chadcarpenter600r

          wrong it did come true,then it was quickly destroyed buy the big wigs who stood to loose lots of money

          • http://www.facebook.com/people/Rob-Garcia/100001061770224 Rob Garcia

            Tesla told JP Morgan that they could give everyone electricity
            Morgan asked how they would charge people for it
            when Tesla didnt have an answer, JP’s goons burned down the tower

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_JUGN2WKEZD32RHZJUCLVOIGZXE Cool

      how ignorant these self proclaimed enlightened people…You guys appreciate Steve jobs as greatest innovator and CEO while trashing Edison…Edison is the first innovator who created a system where he recruited brightest and greatest minds of his time to work under him…So as per the existing corporate rules any idea of your is not actually yours it belongs to the company…and here the company is Edisons…Then enhancing an existing idea is not stealing…Is android a stolen product…i dont think so…You are enhancing an existing idea…Edison did just that…Comparing Tesla and Edison in itself a flawed idea…Both Tesla and Edison are genius in their own areas…Tesla in the field of Electrical Engineering and Edison in the field of Business innovation…and please dont counter argue that Steve jobs stole ideas from Jonathan Ive…Jonathan Ideas belongs to Apple and Steve jobs is the greatest CEO of all time..for the simple FACT of bringing back a company from Bankruptcy to making it the worlds most valuable company..

      So please…please…stop being ignorant…they are all left some legacy…What legacy we are going to have…so stop arguing and lets go and do something that will make some difference to the humanity…

  • RickyBeDee

    Productivity is not what counts. If I patented thousands of inventions along the lines of the Roomba, Slap Chop, Cheeze-Whiz, and the Opti-Grab, would I be a better inventor than say the person who invents wireless power transmission? This article only states who is better at running a business.

  • John

    This article…. as Bill correctly said, Tesla invented and Edison bought. Tesla is the father of the modern world, almost all of our technologies exist because of him. Edison was genious too. But in his case, in the area of buying patents.

    Every single part of your justifications are based on: money, capitalism and influence. Where are the justifications of the technology produced by them? The quality, the efficiency? I only see “media”, “powerful and influential people”, “capital productivity” and “Edison stole patents”. Please, Tesla must be rolling around on his grave because a business man like Edison is taking the credits for his work.

  • Joao Rosario Exb

    I liked when Edison made a 50 thousand dollars bet with Tesla as he wouldn’t be capable of building a better dynamo than Edison’s. Tesla dynamo was 25% more efficient than Edison’s. By the way, Tesla never saw that money.

  • ado

    It is dumb to compare these to man. One is an inventor the other is a businessman.
    It is better to compare Albert Einstein, Issac Newton and Nikola Tesla (because they are all inventors).

    Edison … weeeelll he is the start of the modern “i-buy-you-because-i-have-the-money-capitalism-m_therphucker” politics.

  • Pippo

    To know the truth about Tesla, I suggest to read this book: The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity.

    Many of his inventions are kept secret: can you guess why?

    • Mario

      Because perhaps to allow speculators like you to imagine the ‘what ifs?’

      • amanda

        Perhaps so that usefull technology that can be used by the government today is not leaked for foreign and potentially hostile eyes to see.

  • Liam O’Connor

    Tesla was a genius.
    Edison was a bastard.

  • Dian810

    We would probably be colonizing other planets by now if mankind didn’t fuck up most of their brightest people for a little piece of paper/ salt/ coins/ etc.

    • Espirit

      I cant remember where i heard that we humans are about 500-600 retarded as in the medieval times scientists where killed by the church being acussed of witchcraft….. so yea you and i could have been in some intergalactic spaceship instead of wasting our lives here in the PC lol

  • Ivan

    “Likewise, a deceitful Tesla managed to convince J.P. Morgan, the world’s most powerful financier at the time, to finance his concept for wireless free electricity production under the guise of sending radio messages across the oceans and to and from ships at sea. Tesla was making artificial lightning with Morgan’s money that was eventually cut off. ”

    I find it hard to believe that somebody could dupe J. P. Morgan when it came to investing. Besides, much of Tesla’s work on wireless power transmission is being applied to systems today. You also conveniently fail to mention that Marconi also ‘borrowed’ from Tesla.

  • PooMan

    Edison=Poo
    Tesla=Not Poo

  • faisal azmi

    If the question being debated is one of scientific creativity and not commercial success and i believe this is indeed the question then it must be accepted that Tesla was the more prolific of the two. School children the world over celebrate Edison’s genius as a inventor not as a organiser of big busines, while the reputation of Tesla is far lesser than his contribution as a great experimentalist justifiably merit. At the very least Tesla should be as well known as Edison, this much is certain, as for the question of him being a greater scientifc mind than Edison is something that needs more probing.

  • Reinald

    Edison es a Tesla, como la Reserva Federal es a Estados Unidos (un cancer)

  • Internetis

    Bias article, plain and simple. But seriously, let’s take productivity in a more realistic approach. Number of countries/states/cities in the world using AC to distribute electricity: innumerable. Number of countries/states/cities using DC: who knows (probably none)?

  • http://twitter.com/goatonastick peter myers

    Didn’t Edison burn down Tesla’s lab at one point?

    • Lemonglittersparklesxd

      Either Edison (the grimy thief) or Marconi (the lying bastard).

  • Alkh3myst

    I guess you’re saying Edison wins because he stole it fair and square, and most of those he stole from languish in obscurity. It’s telling that you don’t mention Lewis Latimer at all. His tungsten filament, and idea to fill the light bulb with inert gases (argon, etc.) are the only things that make incandescent bulbs practical. Shame on you.

  • Kocic Borisa

    Tesla is a TESLA.
    Edison is a America.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Stinkbug-Pentatomoidea/1249598595 Stinkbug Pentatomoidea

    There is some evidence that a few of the power people that controlled electrical power were threatened by Tesla and did what they could do to destroy him. Tesla wanted free power for everyone and everyone knows that there is no money to be made with something that is free. Look up Tesla’s Pierce Arrow. Some say that this was the turning point when Tesla became dangerous to a few people in power.

  • Anonymous

    Edison knew he did Tesla wrong, he admitted it on his death bed…he knew Tesla was smarter and he regretted swindling Tesla when he did, because he knew they could have really been a force if not for Edison’s own greed.

  • Lluke9

    Nikola Tesla all the way. He envisioned the Internet.

  • Nordis_24_7

    Tesla was the man, he still is. He was far more productive then any inventor or engineer this world has ever seen. When Marconi and JP Morgan and possibly (Edison) burnt down his laboratory in New York, destroying all of Tesla’s work, Tesla pulled the information out of his own head, not a note book or some pictures, but out of his own photographic memory and rebuilt it all. His work was stolen from all kinds of people to make a buck. What Tesla needed in his time were two things, much better marketing skills “learning not how to scare the hell out of investors!”, and really, really good business attorney’s! I truly believe that Tesla was the single most brilliant mind this world has seen. Maybe one day some one will make a real to the T factual story of his life, and hopefully it will inspire people to dedicate a day of the year to Tesla where everyone goes on a tour to Marconi, Edison, and Morgans grave sites, and urinates on them. Then when ever anyone walks by they will smell the stench of the oppressive upper-crust of that time, and the story of Tesla’s true legacy will be handed down by word of mouth so often people will know just how many inventions, and what this man truly contributed to our technological advancements. Tesla’s story will be engraved in peoples minds like a bed time story.

  • kbobdc3

    i think tesla was more productive because:
    *Edison never thought, he messed around until an idea that actually worked.
    *tesla invented the flourescent light which was three times more powerful and costed half as much in electricity as the incandescent bulb.
    *tesla worked with the A.C. current which today almost all buildings were powered with.
    *Tesla passed 10,000 volts through his body with no harm to himself at the chicago worlds fair, 1893.
    *tesla also invented the radio transmitter when guellimo marconi got the credit.
    *edison cheated nikola tesla out of $50,000 dollars then lied to make people think he was fired for incompetence.

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  • Daniel

    “Likewise, a deceitful Tesla managed to convince J.P. Morgan, the world’s most powerful financier at the time, to finance his concept for wireless free electricity production under the guise of sending radio messages across the oceans and to and from ships at sea. Tesla was making artificial lightning with Morgan’s money that was eventually cut off. ”

    This article sound really biased. The tower he was making was a prototype of the towers he wanted to put all over the world. These towers would charge the air in the same way the Tesla coil does. With this tower he was going to give the world wireless electricity so that you would not need long cables or batteries. He tested this tower and was able to successfully light light bulbs from 1 mile away. He was also going to use this tower to transmit information, sound, and pictures through the same system. The only reason he failed was that the investors cut off his money when they heard he wanted to give the world free power they cut his funding, and his dreams were cut short

  • Jokerguy

    “Tesla claimed he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) if he redesigned Edison’s inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, “Tesla, you don’t understand our American humor,” thus breaking his word.”

    —Wikipedia

    Just this is enough reason for me to hate Edison…

  • Cd

    some people’s thing is football, video games, television, music, celebrities, or what ever else.
    Mine is Nikola Tesla and his invents, I think he had the greatest mind ever existed at least in the world.

  • Ev

    First of all your title makes no sense as both men are dead. Second I don’t know why you would try to compare these two men, it’s like me comparing you to Shakespeare because you wrote this post.

    Edison (with help) invented a crude phonograph, a slight improvement on the world’s first by Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville, and sold it to make money. He then invested this money well and hired many people to start his business. A good business move, I grant you, but he’s not even a real inventor. His money came by making all ready existing tech slightly better, and that’s it. He was a ruthless business man and even more so a liar.

    Now Tesla, the man who invented the future. Nearly all tech today, and I do mean nearly all, is because of this man. Tesla did not invent products to make money, he was not concerned by this, he made things to advance man-kind. To put that into perspective he tore up a contact with his friend George Westinghouse, which would have made easily the richest man in the world and the first billionaire. So money wise Tesla was way ahead of Edison he just did not want to see his friend go bust. Even if he only invented AC he was a million steps ahead of Edison, but that’s not all he invented. Yes he lied to J.P. Morgan about one of his investments, but why? Morgan invested money in to Tesla’s radio research, but Tesla created wireless electricity which was not only green and ever-lasting but free. It was the latter that incensed Morgan when he realised he “could not put a meter on it” and therefore not make money. Think about that free, unlimited and green electricity for all, while we (over 100 years later) rape the land for the dirty oil we rely upon so bad. Witricity is at the forefront of modern tech today, but it is nothing more than an overpriced watered down version of what Tesla created. With Tesla’s advances vehicles would not need engines only receivers and motors (which by the way he invented the kind we still use today). Laptops, mobile phones and anything electrical would need no wires no plugs and no batteries. Most of our world is ran by people with blood on their hands or the very least oil, but most of the time both go together (like the war on Iraq). Tesla’s work for the good of man goes on and on much of which no-one today can even grasp, he was able to produce a ball of lightening and hold it in his hands. That last comment sounds a bit random but think about it. Edison said before his death his largest regret in life was to not use Tesla’s AC system. It should have been what he did to Tesla, trying to ruin his name with like of killing animals (including an elephant) with AC, all in the name of business.

    Ok back to your argument of productivity. How many homes do you know use the AC system? Probably all, if not then I bet they use Tesla’s motor to produce power. Battery powered gadgets ??? Edison did not invent batteries like you suggested, only a slightly different type (obsolete now). Anyway most gadgets use rechargeable batteries, recharged using AC.

    If you do read this post take a bit of time and read a bit about Tesla, please. If I’m right you have probably been educated in the U.S.A., and your books are biassed. Why I don’t know as Tesla became a naturalised citizen of the U.S., until his death when his work was stolen by the government as he was seen as an alien???

    Don’t believe everything your’e taught, have a look on the internet which Tesla predicted, via your router (look up Teleautomaton) and make a truly educated argument. Because the point you tried to make was Ill conceived, biassed, factually incorrect, just plain wrong and arguing the wrong point. The points should be why is Edison seen as a great inventor (when he wasn’t) and why is Tesla not in the same category as Newton as a creator of a whole new branch of science, when he should.

    • MISSAZTLA

      TESLA IS MY NEW HERO!…AND IM A KID!! (11)!=)…..I WILL MAKE SURE EVERYONE THAT I KNOW
      KNOWS ABOUT HIM!….I WILL MAKE THEM REMEMBER ALL THE GREAT THINGS HE DID AND HE WILL LIVE ON.

    • Mario

      Could not put a meter on it??? WTF???  He should have just charged by what was going out, wirelessly.  In other words, it could have been owned by the community at a low fee, which could have been increased as inflation happens.  Why didn’t Tesla realize this?  He did us no favors by ‘supposedly’ allowing business people to steal his product, make it less efficient and charge.  Now they have it, due to his supposed ‘I’m right’ attitude.  Now they have conquered the world and have Us down for the count.  Thanks a lot Tesla, you genius!

      Anyone who wants to talk had better know how to put together a demonstration on Tesla’s products.  He left behind a substantial amount of notes, so get to work, prove it!  Wireless E!  I am a sci fi writer, even before learning of Tesla, I wrote about wireless E.  I believe it can be done.  Whether or not tesla was already there is largely up for debate.  How can you prove it? 

      • gautam

        Here’s a wireless electricty demo: http://blog.ted.com/2009/08/25/wireless_electr/

        And here’s what happened to all of Tesla’s notes/documents/etc: 
         A quick google search: http://www.google.no/search?client=opera&rls=en&q=tesla+notes+US+government&sourceid=opera&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&channel=suggest

        Many governments stole/gathered/collected legally or illegally his documents, and at this time is it “technically” a crime for anyone but the US government to possess them.

        (Not really planning on coming back to this site, was just passing through and thought I’d comment here :-)

        • Mario

          Thanks for the links.  I’ll get back to you soon on them.  Interesting to note that Tesla’s original idea of just getting power directly from Earth is not proven by this, though. 

          Now to check out your second link.

          • gautam

            Not a problem at all.

            And of course Tesla’s idea of getting power directly from Earth isn’t proven, not by the links I posted and not by anyone ever. If it was proven, we’d have it already! :-p

            What we do know is that he (and a lot of other scientists) worked on capturing atmospheric electricity and Tesla tried to distribute it wirelessly too. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_electricity )
            And we also know that he failed to complete his work.

          • Mario

            Yes, thus, the Morgan debacle.  Tesla, unfortunately like so many other geniuses had a mind working a million miles a minute, constantly going from one project to the next without completing them all.  Besides his real inventions, he left behind many great ideas, always with the pride that he could do them, but rarely ever proved them effectively enough.  His fascination with producing artificial lightening overwhelmed everything else, until ol’ JP had all he could handle, so dropped him.  Just like da Vinci before him, paranoia (sometimes a small dose is good, so long as it doesn’t consume one) and always a passion to begin something new with a wandering, sensual mind caused him to produce only a small amount of ‘Master Works”.

            True, he had the disfavor of the big wigs at times, just like Leonardo, who was under house arrest for a while, etc., but if ony he could have calmed his mind long enough, he may have been able to conquer the world, so to say.  Many will say, that was not Tesla’s inclination, to conquer the world, but truly when one is in a position to help the world, one would usually need to prove something (chest out), besides opening only windows of speculation, as all very good Sci-Fi writers have done since the beginning.  We don’t argue that Mozart, if he had lived longer, could have created even greater music, because we accept that fact that he didn’t, and instead died a pauper.  Those master works that he did not finish shall remain forever sealed in his noodle, locked in a time knot, whether or not he would have been capable of producing them to begin with, because who knows, Mozart may have discovered notes no one could utter, let alone sing, during his era?  Will we ever know?  Does it matter?  Absolutely not, due to the never ending symphony called “March Of Time” which conducted him to his soul’s sleep.  Everything else was/is left to other composers, as it has always been with our great universal mind.  If one argues, Tesla was the end all of end alls, then truly we are finished, and all progress has been made.  

            Regarding Tesla, we was most certainly a great inventor, never to be outdone by his mind of speculation which still has to be proven, though easily enough,that is work for others who have picked up where he left off, after he passed, poor, disheveled and lonely.  Rest in peace, Nikola.

  • Ev

    I just read the end of your post and not only are you not a kid (like I thought), but it turns out this post may be the thought of more than one person. I wish I never bothered replying earlier. People like you disgust me and make the world a shit place for honest hard working people. I don’t envy you either, don’t even think that. I have a beautiful family and wonderful friends around me and I believe in people getting credit for the work they have done. You remind me of an anti Robin Hood with your comments. Why don’t you do humanity a favour and put that $500 hundred dollar tie to good use.

    Also productivity only counts if the product is worthy. Retards.

  • Ravikiran Bhandari

    Today if an MIT student is replicating Wireless electricity,or if there is a experiment going on in Japan to charge devices wireless while you walk on the pavements, it is Tesla who envisoned it. Tesla was a forgotton scientist because those businessmen who funded history books paid, writers to forget him as he was not a money maker, rather the who wanted to patent technologies which would have made all of us have free energy all times.

    Comparing Edison and Tesla is like comparing Cande light and AC power :).

    He was so forgotton that for a while those paid hisotry writers made us all learn that Radio was found by Marconi (even today, some old text books used in a remote corners of world say that), until recently the patents office rewarded it to Nikole Tesla. So who knows how many secretive patented documents which talk about the futuristic technology are still under wraps?, he was too ahead of this(2011) generation in 1900′s. He was a gifted human being, completely wasted by some idiotic businessmen who hardly understood what the man kind wanted in the future. Seriously shame on the scientific community that Tesla hasn’t go the respect he deserved though he was on par (and sometimes better) than Einstein.

  • http://www.laptops-battery-online.com Laptop battery

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  • Darksoldiers

    Nikola Tesla: wanted energy to be a free source….
    while edison wanted profit as his close friends like Mr JP Morgan.
    probably help him decide that was the best for men kind.

    So you see,,, who was more successful??? to me it don’t really matter who was a better jumper between a demon or a angel….. but who was a better human been is what counts to me. and that would be Nikola Tesla

  • Really??? Really???

    Wow, your misinformed and maligned argument made me laugh…..hahahaha comparing Nikola Tesla to that swine???? Hahaahaa

  • Pantelis Apost

    As an (Assistant) Professor of Physics, I am asking the author of the post: is there an “Edison (Unit)”? Blaaa Bllaaaa Bllaaa! This is Science Sirs!——> Innovation output, Innovation success rate, Capital productivity (??????????),…… OMG! Where the world is coming to!

  • Stacey

    I’m loving all your Tesla loving. lol
    Seriously Tesla rules above Edison.
    It’s a great shame what happened to him because of the likes of Edison.
    Btw. I think i’m in love with Tesla.

  • Vinit Rai

    Nikola Tesla > (Thomas Edison * Millions)
    Literally.

    I would even go that far to say that if there were a few more like Tesla we would be a century ahead in Technology.

    • scienceorc

      If Edison wasn’t such a dick, we would be 5 centuries ahead!

  • Sophie

    Edison might have invented a lot, but he is most well known for inventing the light bulb – which it turns out he didn’t actually invent, and promoted the clearly inferior DC system whilst defamng the AC system by electrocuting animals in public
    Tesla discovered AC electricity, has a unit of measurement named after him and a statue of him at Niagrara Falls – obviously the clear winner

  • Tesla

    I vote Tesla

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  • http://twitter.com/StrapYurBallsOn Tom Elliott

    Edison was more productive from what I know about his history. Which isn’t much… in fact I came across this post after searching for a quote from him for one of my production teams because I remember reading about his intense work ethic in one of the books I read when I was starting my first business. (was it “Think & Grow Rich” or…)
     
    re:  the tesla vs. edison thing
     
    After reading this post and responses that talk about insane work ethic, taking on many things at once, no concept of time when innovating from inspiration or discovery and definitely appreciate the personaly hygiene part… lol.  I have the beards and hair to prove it.  And my loyal sidekick “soldier the pug” would throw his two cents in about less and shorter walk / potty breaks.
     
    Appreciate the little break your article gave me…
     
    Back to work… continuing my path towards mastering the art of providing monthly revenue growth for clients while applying the same fundamentals to my own projects (faster, more efficiently and most important – cost effectively)… 3:27am PST

  • N7aze

    westinghouse was in bad shape and owed Tesla a lot of money and tore up the paper helping Westinghouse to survive

  • Jaasoccer11

    i have all respect for a great inventor but i personally feel tesla’s inventions were better (well the ones that worked) than Edisons. It is true though that Edison couldn’t have stolen all the patents like some said when Tesla worked for him but tesla was actively followed and spied upon my workers for Tomas Edison. 

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  • Bienacosta

    Tesla was a victim of that anti-immigrant attittude of White Americans, Of Course, Edinson was a White american citizen every thing was easy for him. All the doors were opened for him. Tesla did nat have an equal opportunity.

  • DrakenKor

    Tesla is my idol – in him I see qualities that I wish to learn and emulate to the smallest fraction of what he possessed. Edison was a good businessman, but would anyone want to be like him?
    Lying
    Stealing
    Cheating

    Survival of the fittest? Sure. But all of these qualities of self interest destroy the soul, even if they may contribute to material success.

  • jjaacckk

    One correcting, Tesla had
    over 800 legally recognized and registered patents in many countries not 112,
    and all of those patents are his patents. Edison was a great man and fantastic businessman;
    I will never under any circumstances go against that. However, Edison was
    always using other people to produce results for him, Tesla did it by himself.
    It is pointless to compare Tesla with Edison, it is equal with comparing Mike Tyson
    with Albert Einstein,yes you can but there is no reason for that.

    Tesla invented stuff, Edison
    hired people to invent stuff for him or stole many inventions and patented as
    his own. Let me give you one typical example. If you ask any American who
    invented electricity as we know today, anyone will tell you “Edison” even if
    Tesla own legal patent. Edison prize himself for being first in inventing
    direct current, over jumping many others starting all the way with Bagdad batteries, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baghdad_Battery
    then Leclanche cell http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leclanch%C3%A9_cell and all
    other who worked and developed that system, but no one except Tesla
    invented alternating current. Please do not forget the time when Edison killed elephant
    in front of the large crowd to proof how Teslas current is “bad” and we are
    still all using Teslas current today, except that for some reason we believe
    that this is Edison invention. Does not telling you how Edison was stealing
    stuff from Tesla. Again and forever I will never disrespect Edison in any shape
    or form; however it is absolutely stupid to compare Tesla with Edison.

    If you like to talk
    negatively against Tesla, I can give you much more; he was a very strange man,
    with no friends and way too many phobias, he never had woman or relationship,
    no kids no social life, he never own living property an certainly by any
    standards he was disorganized, but not true that he did not have any records of
    what he did, you should research that much more and you will definitely be surprised,
    but when you take all this in count, hi did produce over 800 patents, because
    he devoted all he had to the science, and he died very poor. But all that is
    not a measurement to his scientific achievements. Take all Edison inventions
    and see how many are still in use today, then do the same with Teslas
    inventions. And again and again Edison was much better businessman trading with
    commodity of inventions, but Tesla invented stuff that we are using today. And
    with no disrespect my friends Tesla invented Edison many time over and over
    again.

     

  • jjaacckk

    One correcting, Tesla had
    over 800 legally recognized and registered patents in many countries not just 112,
    and all of those patents are his patents. Edison was a great man and fantastic businessman;
    I will never under any circumstances go against that. However, Edison was
    always using other people to produce results for him, Tesla did it by himself.
    It is pointless to compare Tesla with Edison, it is equal with comparing Mike Tyson
    with Albert Einstein, yes you can,  but
    there is no reason for that.

    Tesla invented stuff, Edison
    hired people to invent stuff for him or stole many inventions and patented as
    his own. Let me give you one typical example. If you ask any American who
    invented electricity as we know today, anyone will tell you “Edison” even if
    Tesla own legal patent. Edison prize himself for being first in inventing
    direct current, over jumping many others starting  with simplest as Bagdad batteries, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baghdad_Battery
    then Leclanche cell http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leclanch%C3%A9_cell and all
    other who worked and developed similar systems, but no one except Tesla
    invented alternating current. Please do not forget the time when Edison killed elephant
    in front of the large crowd to proof how Teslas current is “bad” and we are
    still all using Teslas current today, except that for some very strange reason
    we believe that this is Edison invention. Does not telling you how Edison was
    stealing stuff from Tesla. Again and forever I will never disrespect Edison in
    any shape or form; however it is absolutely stupid to compare Tesla with
    Edison.

    If you like to talk
    negatively against Tesla, I can give you much more; he was a very strange man,
    with no friends and way too many phobias, he never had woman or relationship,
    no kids no social life, he never own living property an certainly by any
    standards he was disorganized, but not true that he did not have any records of
    what he did, you should research that much more and you will definitely be surprised,
    but when you take all this in count, hi did produce over 800 patents, because
    he devoted all he had to the science, and he died very poor. But all that is
    not a measurement to his scientific achievements. Take all Edison inventions
    and see how many are still in use today, then do the same with Teslas
    inventions. And again and again Edison was much better businessman trading with
    commodity of inventions, but Tesla invented stuff that we are using today. And
    with no disrespect my friends Tesla invented Edison many time over and over
    again.

     

  • jjaacckk

    One correcting, Tesla had
    over 800 legally recognized and registered patents in many countries not just 112,
    and all of those patents are his patents. Edison was a great man and fantastic businessman;
    I will never under any circumstances go against that. However, Edison was
    always using other people to produce results for him, Tesla did it by himself.
    It is pointless to compare Tesla with Edison, it is equal with comparing Mike Tyson
    with Albert Einstein, yes you can, but there is no reason for that.

    Tesla invented stuff, Edison
    hired people to invent stuff for him or stole many inventions and patented as
    his own. Let me give you one typical example. If you ask any American who
    invented electricity as we know today, anyone will tell you “Edison” even if
    Tesla own legal patent. Edison prize himself for being first in inventing
    direct current, over jumping many others starting  with simplest as Bagdad batteries, Leclanche
    cell and all other who worked over thousands of years to developed DC systems,
    but no one except Tesla ever invented alternating current. Please do not forget
    the time when Edison killed elephant in front of the large crowd to proof how
    Teslas current is “bad” and we are still all using Teslas current today, except
    that for some very strange reason we believe that this is Edison invention.
    Does not telling you how Edison was stealing stuff from Tesla. Again and forever
    I will never disrespect Edison in any shape or form; however it is absolutely
    stupid to compare Tesla with Edison.

    If you like to talk
    negatively against Tesla, I can give you much more; he was a very strange man,
    with no friends and way too many phobias, he never had woman or relationship,
    no kids no social life, he never own living property an certainly by any
    standards he was disorganized, but not true that he did not have any records of
    what he did, you should research that much more and you will definitely be surprised,
    but when you take all this in count, hi did produce over 800 patents, because
    he devoted all he had to the science, and he died very poor. But all that is
    not a measurement to his scientific achievements. Take all Edison inventions
    and see how many are still in use today, then do the same with Teslas
    inventions. And again and again Edison was much better businessman trading with
    commodity of inventions, but Tesla invented stuff that we are using today. And
    with no disrespect my friends Tesla invented Edison many time over and over
    again.

     

  • jjaacckk

    One correcting, Tesla had over 800 legally recognized and registered patents in many countries not just 112, and all of those patents are his patents. Edison was a great man and fantastic businessman; I will never under any circumstances go against that. However, Edison was always using other people to produce results for him, Tesla did it by himself. It is pointless to compare Tesla with Edison, it is equal with comparing Mike Tyson with Albert Einstein, yes you can,  but there is no reason for that.Tesla invented stuff, Edison hired people to invent stuff for him or stole many inventions and patented as his own. Let me give you one typical example. If you ask any American who invented electricity as we know today, anyone will tell you “Edison” even if Tesla own legal patent. Edison prize himself for being first in inventing direct current, over jumping many others starting  with simplest as Bagdad batteries, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baghdad_Batterythen Leclanche cell http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leclanch%C3%A9_cell and all other who worked on developed similar systems over the thousands of years, but no one except Tesla ever invented alternating current. Please do not forget the time when Edison killed elephant in front of the large crowd to proof how Teslas current is “bad” and we are still all using Teslas current today, except that for some very strange reason we believe that this is Edison invention. Does not that telling you how Edison was stealing stuff from Tesla. Again and forever I will never disrespect Edison in any shape or form; however it is absolutely stupid to compare Tesla with Edison.If you like to talk negatively against Tesla, I can give you much more; he was a very strange man, with no friends and way too many phobias, he never had woman or relationship, no kids no social life, he never own living property an certainly by any standards he was disorganized, but not true that he did not have any records of what he did, you should research that much more and you will definitely be surprised, but when you take all this in count, hi did produce over 800 patents, because he devoted all he had to the science, and he died very poor. But all that is not a measurement to his scientific achievements. Take all Edison “inventions” and see how many are still in use today, then do the same with Teslas inventions. And again and again Edison was much better businessman trading with commodity of inventions, but Tesla invented stuff that we are using today. And with no disrespect to anyone my friends Tesla invented Edison many time over and over again.

  • Anonymous

    History after last Ice age “officially”  12500 years ago is poor-lie. This article is poor. You people from all Planet  25% population have lost 1 800 000 000 000 hours in social network through Internet. 

  • Harihara Murthy

    We come to the fixation for “public Opinion” that is based on many factors not all of which may portray the truth
    Tesla had the disadvantage of being caught in a dog eat dog world and Edison had the advantage of knowing how to sail through it.Give the men their due. both were great thinkers. One knew the art of survival and the other did not!

    • Tuc

      I agree; however since the wrong man prevailed our society has got off in the wrong direction.  Business Man’s
      Greed; will always put himself in front of the masses.  Same then as it is not; Edison stole ideas using power and money, and ivented gizmos that someone else would of surly invented anyway.  Sucks for Us!!

  • Anonymous

    It took the effort of both Tesla and Edison as well as many others to get us to where we are today.  To say that one was “better” or “greater” is a futile endeavor.  Each had their own unique gifts and strengths.  And we all benefit from  their hard work.

    The competition between Edison and Tesla made each of them better.

  • http://www.facebook.com/mbahnmiller Michael Bahnmiller

    You know, the merger of Tesla and Edison would have been a powerful force.  They each had their strengths – Edison was by far the better at operational organization and financing, etc.  Tesla, on the other hand, was a pure genius.  Had the two of them gotten along (dare I say, became friends), we would probably be living in a world right now with advancements that are still to come in the next 100 years.  It’s just a shame that they couldn’t have joined forces.

  • Observer2-10

    TESLA RULES

  • Observer2010

    TESLA RULES

  • Chadcarpenter600r

    Edison was nothing more than a yuppie,mentally not even a comparison to Tesla,not even approaching Tesla’s genius

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_DWIHHE22ESWZQBHSZI4NAMLE4Y S

    TESLA!

  • http://itsnobody.wordpress.com itsnobody

    Why would anyone care about who was more productive? If we are talking about who was the greater genius Tesla wins by more than a mile.

    Let’s look at your 6 points:

    1. The number of patents isn’t what matters, it’s the significance of the patents that does. 2 important inventions can be worth more than a 1000 useless inventions. 
    2. Commercial success has little to do with who’s the better engineer or genius

    3. Being a businessman has little to do with who’s the greater engineer

    4. The fact that Tesla worked mostly alone just shows that Tesla’s work mostly arises from his own mind where as Edison’s work comes mostly with the help from others (not independent)

    5. Google Results have absolutely nothing to do with who’s the greater genius

    6. Again, network productivity has little to nothing to do with who was the greater genius

    If we are talking about who was smarter, more ingenious, and a better engineer Tesla easily wins. Tesla also had photographic memory and tested out his inventions in his mind alone.

    • scienceorc

      Edison payed people to invent for him. Tesla invented. Tesla made better inventions. Its as simple as that.

  • Scienceorc

    Tesla is a badass, and the best inventor ever. He could do things we can’t even replicate with modern tech! He made a man made earthquake that almost destroyed 5th avenue, and he lit 200 light bulbs from 15 miles away without using a single wire! Edison was just a buisness man. Besides, while Edison  made more inventions, Tesla’s were 1000000x better. And if Tesla had proper funding, he would have not only invented more than Edison, but they would all be 1000000x better.  We would be living in a science fiction movie!!! Not only that, but Edison was an asshole. I happen to like elephants.

  • Sunny

    What was Thomas Alva Edison’s argument against
    using AC power in his fight with Nikola Tesla?

  • Sunny

    What was Thomas Alva Edison’s argument against using AC power in his fight with Nikola Tesla?  
    Thomas Alva Edison world’s first large central
    power station produced AC or DC current?     Can anyone answer these 2 questions please asap ???

    • Tuc

      Yes, that it was too dangerous.  So what does he do, sponsors the live killing of animals with AC power trying to convince the public. Then assisted with the building of the Electric Chair.  So that pissed of Tesla and moved on to Wireless Power.  Then Edison moved on using Tesla’s AC power, motors, generators, and transformers for himself.

      Was that Close?

  • Lehr741

    fuck Edison, Tesla was much brighter. just because Edison had the business side tied don’t mean shit. tesla really invented things that stood the test of time. money dont mean shit and Tesla knew that, he wanted the world to be a better place for everyone and did not care if he got credit for it. Edison was to caught up in getting rich and promoting his name, he was indeed a selfish bastard. Tesla cared too much about people and changing the world to be worried about his name or money.

    • cfc912

      Really? Did you talk to Tesla and he said he really cared for us? Wow, still, fuck him though. And money is everything, pull your head out of your ass.

      • http://profile.yahoo.com/QZHIOLKNVAWV6S2XGZY23S757Q Cole

        Free power would lead to money being worthless. It takes electricity to make almost everything that is produced in any manufacturing facility. Free energy would be a loss for our government and many others world wide. This is why no one wanted to invest deeply into Teslas work. Money+Power=Complete Control

  • John_connor

    Only two smart and genius man were born on this planet, Da Vinci and Tesla.

  • scienceorc

    you said that Tesla had 112 patents. Actually, Tesla had 700. To whoever wrote this article, get your facts straight. Tesla is the best scientist ever. Edison was the greatest con man ever. Tesla shouldn’t even be compared to that overrated jerk. Besides, Tesla didn’t even care about patents. Tesla only cared that he helped society.

  • Tonyjeff

    Edison productivity was based on the productivity of others, like Tesla, Dickson, Muybridge, Berliner, Le Gray and Westinghouse, among others.

  • Tuc

    If I could pick someone to go back in time and assassinate, it would be Thomas Edison.  Edison is almost solely responsible for “THE GRID” that will fail on the first sun solar flare… Responsible for cutting off Tesla’s wireless power fundage from J.P Morgan.  Just think how different it would be if Tesla won over Edison.

    Thomas Edison IS of the start of the technology age the official first GREEDY Business man that put himself 1st and the masses 2nd, completely shaping history in the complete wrong direction.  For pride and greed.

    Since there literally isn’t enough space on the internet to cover all of
    the inventions that Edison didn’t invent, we’re just going to focus on
    the light bulb for class today.
    Plenty of people messed around with the idea of the light bulb,
    (Jean Foucault, Humphrey Davy, J.W. Starr, some other guys you’ll never
    read about in a history text book), but Heinrich Goebel was likely the
    first person to have actually invented it, back in 1854. He tried
    selling it to Edison, who saw no practical use in Goebel’s invention and
    refused. Shortly thereafter, Goebel died and, shortly after that,
    Edison bought Goebel’s patent, (you know, the one he saw no merit in),
    off of Goebel’s impoverished widow at a cost much lower than what it was
    worth.

    Screwing over just one inventor might be alright for Galileo, but Edison
    was a dreamer and he couldn’t be satisfied with just one, dead
    disgraced inventor under his belt. So, after Goebel, and a year before
    Edison “invented” his light bulb, Joseph Wilson Swan developed and
    patented a working light bulb. When it was clear Edison’s “screwed Swan;
    defense wouldn’t hold up in court, he made Swan a partner, forming the
    Ediswan United Company and effectively buying Swan and his patent.

    Soon enough, Edison acquired even more power and bought out Swan
    completely leaving all records of the light bulb under the care of the
    Edison Company. Sure, Swan had money, but in buying all of the records,
    Edison could take sole credit for the light bulb. So, he’s got a laundry
    list of inventors he’s either stepped on, bullied, exploited or bought
    out to his name, but what do they say about Edison in the textbooks?
    Father of the light bulb.  PUKE!

    Tesla was a brilliant Inventor and innovator.  Wanted to make it perfect; not just good enough for now.  BTW making a car motorized by wirelsess power was his next challange that never happend..

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_G3TUFJTGNF6FL3BISPQWSL3EFI Marshall

      The funniest part about you saying “Go back in time and assassinate Thomas Edison” is that they already did something similar in an Assassin’s Creed webcomic. Edison was apparently a Templar who tried to earn the Templars millions using AC power. Tesla was, according to the bio, an Assassin. I still thought it was pretty cool.

  • scienceorc

    Tesla did things we can’t even replicate with modern tech. He lit 200 light bulbs from ten miles away…without using a single wire! He was working on a ray gun, and though it’s unknown if he was successful, a mysterious explosion happened in tunguska while he was working on his raygun! And because of his research on the raygun, the government confinscated his stuff. I’m sure that his anti gravity engine and raygun is probably in area 51! He did claim that he was in contact with martians… He made an earthquake machine, almost destroying his lab, then he saved  fifth avenue by smashing his astonishing device with a sledge hammer! He predicted the internet at the turn of the century!  He was so badass!   Team Tesla! Tesla is the best!  Tesla is my hero! As for Edison, I happen to like elephants.  

  • Man from Modesto

     The real reason Edison made money while Tesla did not is that Edison sold out to the rich interests, who promote their own in their efforts to seize power and control. Tesla left the benefactory of Rockefeller when he realized there was no real interest to help people and improve the world, only for money (and control… did Tesla see that?)

  • jmjaxson

    “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 have really worked, is mine”. ~Nikola Tesla~I hope everyone has seen the documentary: TESLA ~MASTER of LIGHTNING~  If not, make sure you watch it from the ‘very beginning’ until the end……..”I rest my case”.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_CUF7BJCQJEECOIBUYWITY2RBVE Waqas

    This article seems to be written by a Tesla hater. Edison was a crook and you should fucking get over it.

  • Mit

     Definitely Tesla is the genius and the greatest. Even Smithsonian is not being fair to Tesla due to corporate sponsorship……….

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Zu-Wai/100000078480100 Zu Wai

    Tesla indeed

  • Zero_Cool

    “a deceitful Tesla managed to convince J.P. Morgan, the world’s most
    powerful financier at the time, to finance his concept for wireless free
    electricity production under the guise of sending radio messages across
    the oceans and to and from ships at sea. Tesla was making artificial
    lightning with Morgan’s money that was eventually cut off.”

    Because his laboratory was burned,you idiots…….1093 patents,most of them connect to the same thing……for example you have over 60-70 patents connected to Telegraph,and also he has an Army of his workers,and most of this thing are not his……This is veeeeeery stupid text……Im not sorry to say this because it is……..And a lot of people know that in compare to Tesla he was laaaaame mathematician……..

  • terence galland

    without teslas technology  it is doubtful that edison would have had the same impact! tesla was a true genius.

  • Suzanne Crockett-Jones

    Nikola Tesla, easily. If you say anything bad about Tesla in my house you are getting slapped and screamed at. If you say good about Edison you are getting a major frown and a moment for you to think about what you said.

  • http://twitter.com/nena997 Nevena Pavlovic

    Tesla is the best!!! Did you know that when Tesla inveted a boat that you controled with remote controler Americans thought that he was using his mind to control that boat.. How stupid, and of course there’s a possibility that he was murdered(poisoned) and after than cremated even he said in his testament he don’t want that after he die so they did it to avoid any traces of the murder. Few days ago i was in a museum of Nikola Tesla in Belgrade in Serbia with my teacher and some friends and we were like one meter (3.28ft) from his urn and ash.  It was so cool to see all those bolts from Teslas generator. Here in Serbia we only learn about him, in the museum was the 1st time I heard about Edison and i think Tesla was smarter and better person than Edison who cared only about popularity and money.
    SO TESLA IS THE BEST!!!
    sorry if I made any mistakes I am from Serbia and I am 14 years old….

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Rob-Garcia/100001061770224 Rob Garcia

    simply put: the present belonged to Edison, the future, belongs to Tesla.
    and secondly
    It is better to deserve honors and not have them, than have them and not deserve them.
    lastly…did you really criticize Tesla FOR TRYING TO GIVE THE WORLD FREE ELECTRICITY?

  • Magnetic Force

    All I see in Edison is how much he has held up the progress of the world with his greed and arrogance.
    He always put himself above everything else and for that he will always be know as a pawn of the Devil to me.

  • Brandon Palafox

    NIKOLA MOTHER FREAKIN TESLA ALL THE WAY FUCK YOU THOMAS EDISON I WILL FIND YOUR GRAVE AND SHIT ON IT HAPPY LATE FREAKIN BIRTHDAY BITCHIN EDISON AND LONG LIVE TESLA!!!!!

  • Darren Swanson

    Edison would be like Steve Jobs. Innovative, yes. A great businessman. But not inventive. Tesla was inventive. Although he was a bit screwy in the head. I’m a much bigger fan of Tesla. Edison was a complete dick. He electrocuted an elephant in Time Square! Who does that?! I can’t imagine what the world would be like if Tesla hadn’t been screwed over by people like Edison and JP Morgan. Edison was more successful, there’s no denying that. But does he deserve more fame than Tesla? Hell no. Tesla wins.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ufo-Politics/100002205357859 Ufo Politics

    I disagree with some parts of this Article, even though I have to admit is very well documented. Therefore am not here to waste time about differences in numbers, dates or events realities, not criticize it…but to the main point of this very important date-stage of our history.
    Tesla and Edison were very different, apart from being both very intelligent human beings. Edison was more of a typical “American Business Man”…Nikola Tesla was more of a Scientist, but a Humanitarian one…that actually cared more for people benefits than for Money (Broke a Millionaire (10M) Contract with Westinghouse)…How many of you would do that??
    However the more important part of this “Story” is hidden from mos of Us…
    John Pierpont Morgan joined with Thomas Alva Edison and funded General Electric….they also together in this partnership funded Lorentz to start a Scientific Enterprise to destroy all possibilities to create -ever again after Tesla- any machine, device-apparatus that could produce more than it could get Input…
    Lorentz fought strongly Maxwell  Electromagnetic Asymmetry Laws, that were also backed up and strengthen by Oliver Heviside… and others…
    At this point EE (Electrical Engineering Schools) were oriented of the new laws, the new formulas to resolve equations were based Only, on Electromagnetic Symmetry, where proven to work fine High Level Algebras , still were ‘replaced’ by the use of static Tensors and Vectors…This process of Crippling effective Laws lasted from 1880 to 1890, they ‘coincidentally’ started right after the death of Maxwell (1879)…Since He was going to be a very solid subject to defend them.
    Ever since, We were stolen our rights to a Real Physical Phenomena , the Energy from the Vacuum, from the Aether…Free Energy for all…Tesla was the first Scientist to discover the ways to tap into it fluidly and massively…and actually His Wardencliff Tower was just an Amplifier of Electromagnetic Pulses to be sent to the Ionosphere in order to reduce the cost of people’s Receivers…
    Thanks

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Distortion-Zeta/100002871981575 Distortion Zeta

    This doesn’t take into account the various inventions telsa hid from the world to protect it from itself. God knows what laser guns and plastic magnets could be waiting in a cave to be rediscovered. 

  • http://twitter.com/r0am N M

    Fuck Tesla. He never invented the fluorescent lamp, it was invented and patented by Edison in 1907. But even there Becquerel was the first to research the phenomena. And practical fluorescent lamps were not invented until years after Tesla and Edison’s death.

    Tesla never invented the famous induction coils, they were discovered by Michael Faraday (REAL genius), and the induction coil was invented by Nicholas Callan in 1836 who produced 600 kV discharges in 1837 (20 years before Tesla was even born).

    Radio is not an achievement to be recognized as any major contribution of any one single person. It cannot really. There was the discovery by Edison, and theoretical work by real physicists like Maxwell and then Hertz who his most important discovery of electromagnetic waves in 1887, and then he made his apparatus for generating and detecting them, before Tesla did anything. There are many others, Tesla is just one in many. Personally I think Marconi also deserves the credit for radio as we know it.

    Tesla never invented polyphase AC power, Bradley (ex-employee of Edison) and Mikhail Dolivo-Dobrovsky independently invented the first 3 phase AC generators circa 1887.  
    Tesla was the first to patent the polyphase electric motor but Galileo Ferraris came up with the design 8 months before him. Ferraris invited strangers from around the world to come and see his work. Tesla ripped him off big time, which is just another case of how a businessman has crushed an academic person’s claim on being the first.

    There are more Tesla conspiracy theories to be debunked, but this should do for now. The myths tend to be much bigger than the man. It’s a shame so many people would fall for the populist rhetoric.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3ZAMJ4FWURAH2LWFPT4QIU6SLU atiana

     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.”
    Nikola Tesla

  • Anonymous

    Wow, what a bunch of crybabies.  I’m on the Tesla train, too, but all this reactionary hate speech all because someone merely suggested a differing opinion is incredibly childish.  Tesla would be ashamed of everyone trolling this article.

  • Nima Mansuri

    I could go on listing all of the false attributions and conspiracy theories regarding Tesla but that’s a waste of time. If one actually investigates the history of his supposed inventions he finds that the extent of his contributions are being highly exaggerated, as most of them predate his work on them. I don’t see anything that makes him more productive than Edison overall.

    I couldn’t help but chuckle at the comment that “he invented the future”. Sure, what about the men who invented the transistor or the laser? IMO they are the inventors of future.

    It turns out Tesla was NOT the lone visionary. Many people before him tried to convince Edison of AC such as Bradley who left the company or Otto Blathy  who invented the transformer. So, Tesla’s story is not that original after all.

    • Nima Mansuri

      Tesla was business natured also, he understood he had to relentlessly promote himself to become like the more successful Edison. Edison was not a good businessman, he was actually a business failure. He was inept at marketing his own inventions. His competitors always came up with better versions of his own inventions that the consumer preferred.

      Tesla was no lone visionary of AC power, he was simply smart enough to keep his eye on great developments of AC in Europe during the early-mid 1880s. He was one of a small group of engineers working on AC in America in the mid 1880s.That’s all.

  • Anonymous

    Because as we know, Tesla is really the greatest inventor I also started a while ago telling my kids the True That Mr. Tesla that HE is the Great Inventor not “Edison” really.  Edison for me was just a business man first second an inventor maybe. My kids are also starting to come from their NY city schools with notes and crap information from the brain washed ignorant uninformed teacher that “Edison” is so great. I immediately corrected my kids, nicely sat them down and told them the true…..My kids were…shocked…! :) I Just told them. e.g. 1. Edison didn’t really invent the “bulb” 2. If it wasn’t for Tesla we wouldn’t have AC electricity in our homes today (told them about the First  AC generator Mr. Tesla built at the Niagara falls) He made the first effective way for the World to make electricity just by using the power of nature; a hydroelectric plant 3. He wanted free electricity for the World so that’s the reason (unlike this article says & they should correct here that Morgan cut off money cause he was “lying or he was “deceitful”..:-/) Mr. Morgan cut off the money to sponsored Tesla because simply Morgan couldn’t put “a meter” in Tesla’s FREE electricity transmission system..:-/ 4. He invented the Wireless technology we use so much today. & so many more cool things. So as you see I am telling my kids and everyone else (including people and co-workers in my electrical, electronic technology field, cause even some of them, it’s sad but don’t know about Tesla..:(). It’s kind of funny to see peoples faces of shock after they comment about “Edison was so smart” hahaha I can control my self and I star laughing but than quickly, nicely and direct tell them why I laugh, I explain the true, they are just so quiet but most seem to get it very well…cause is the true. To some that don’t seem to really grasp  the true or are really shocked i tell them; do your own research online for example and you will see for your self who is the greatest…;) Later when they see me again they are like wow Rob thanks for the info had no freaking idea..:) I’m just a little happy to open a few peoples mind and to explain why not to look at Edison “as really the greatest”. The one we should be studying, reading and learning about in our schools and follow his example is NOT Edison is, Mr. NIKOLA TESLA.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_UUOBDMSNNGMZ4JT5HTUV5UB74A Rabi

     still we are talking about tesla. this is what called history.
    tesla The man.

  • Patrick Podue

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  • Andy Chen

    Wow this is one of the most bias articles I have ever read…are you
    really using “media output” as one of the measurements?  That has
    absolutely nothing to do with productivity. This is about productivity
    and not popularity right? 

    I am pretty sure, from an innovative
    outlook, the entire world uses AC in their homes in the present day you
    ignorant dip shit. A much larger contribution to humanity than Edison’s
    DC ever was.

    You repeatedly cite Tesla’s anti-social nature as a
    reason he was not successful. Yet again this isn’t about popularity.
    Tesla worked for Edison and from there Edison took his ideas. If it
    wasn’t for Edison’s repeated acts of using his money to discredit Tesla,
    the world would of had access to inventions such as the radar earlier.
    Tesla’s ultimate dream was making free energy accessible to everyone.

    How
    about you pick up a fucking book next time before you decide to write
    an article comparing to inventors that lived way outside your lifetime.
    Also in terms of your references – please use actual literary sources
    instead of a google search for how many images you can find

  • http://twitter.com/slaith Drovi Andri

    Seriously, do we now judge scientists on commercial success? Most of these arguments are lame. You are comparing the biggest brains in Science and innovation on the basis of commercial success. Will you compare Edison and Newton next? Newton had very few patents while Edison had 100… is Edison smarter now?
    I am not taking either side, but please don’t compare commercial success or contacts when it comes to Science

  • Luis Pulido

    one must understand that Thomas Edison could have or could not have invented most of what he patented, it did not matter. Thomas Edison wanted to make money, which he did. Nikola Tesla wanted to provide the ENTIRE world with free electricity. The Tesla Coil was invented in 1891 and later was able to power around 200 lamps in a WIRELESS fashion from over a mile away. while Thomas Edison’s DC had to be re-powered every two miles. moral of the story: wireless electricity = benefit for mankind, while Thomas Edison= money. you decide. however i leave you with this quote from Tesla himself, “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 have
    really worked, is mine.”
    P.S. FUCK THOMAS EDISON GREEDY BASTARD.

    sincerly, Luis Pulido

    resources Nikola Tesla My Inventions Autobiography, as for thomas edison i care not to reference him
    but look up his electric chair and electrocution of a circus elephant…