OT Why do so few people appreciate the importance of Tesla's work

Since Usenet is dying, it is harder and harder to find active Usenet groups. I have just started taking topics and try to fit them into the few groups I frequent. Tesla=electricity home repair=electricity. Close enough.

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Fans have rallied to buy the lab of inventor and electricity pioneer Nikola Tesla to turn it into a museum. But why do so few people appreciate the importance of Tesla's work?

Lots of people don't know who Nikola Tesla was.

He's less famous than Einstein. He's less famous than Leonardo. He's arguably less famous than Stephen Hawking.

Most gallingly for his fans, he's considerably less famous than his arch-rival Thomas Edison.

But his work helped deliver the power for the device on which you are reading this. His invention of the induction motor that would work with alternating current (AC) was a milestone in modern electrical systems.

Mark Twain, whom he later befriended, described his invention as "the most valuable patent since the telephone". Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla was increasingly eccentric in his later years

Tesla was on the winning side in the War of the Currents - the battle between George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison to establish whether AC or direct current (DC) would be used for electricity transmission. But as far as posterity goes, time has not been kind to Tesla.

Born in what is now Croatia to Serbian parents, he moved to New York in 1884 and developed radio controlled vehicles, wireless energy and the first hydro-electric plant at Niagara Falls. But he was an eccentric. He believed celibacy spurred on the brain, thought he had communicated with extraterrestrials, and fell in love with a pigeon.

Over recent decades he has drifted into relative obscurity, while Edison is lauded as one of the world's greatest inventors.

But his memory is kept alive by legions of "geeks" and science historians. A Tesla museum on the site of his former laboratory is being planned after a crowdfunding project orchestrated by The Oatmeal cartoon site. It raised more than its target of $850,000 - which will be matched by the New York state authorities - in the first week. The total is now well over $1m.

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Except for the Tesla coil, I had never heard of Tesla. I finished High School in 77 and went through 2 years tech school studying electricity and never heard of the guy.

It was only when I started using the Internet did I discover what an amazing man he was.

I am pretty sure that he was left out of history because he went insane. Wanting to marry a pigeon and keeping a distance from women was part of it too.

His claims of UFOs and death rays didn't help his credibility either.

Reply to
Metspitzer
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Edison had a better press agent.

Besides, most ppl don't give a hang as long as their toaster works when they plug it in the wall.

nb

Reply to
notbob

Since Usenet is dying, it is harder and harder to find active Usenet groups. I have just started taking topics and try to fit them into the few groups I frequent. Tesla=electricity home repair=electricity. Close enough.

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Fans have rallied to buy the lab of inventor and electricity pioneer Nikola Tesla to turn it into a museum. But why do so few people appreciate the importance of Tesla's work?

Lots of people don't know who Nikola Tesla was.

He's less famous than Einstein. He's less famous than Leonardo. He's arguably less famous than Stephen Hawking.

Most gallingly for his fans, he's considerably less famous than his arch-rival Thomas Edison.

But his work helped deliver the power for the device on which you are reading this. His invention of the induction motor that would work with alternating current (AC) was a milestone in modern electrical systems.

Mark Twain, whom he later befriended, described his invention as "the most valuable patent since the telephone". Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla was increasingly eccentric in his later years

Tesla was on the winning side in the War of the Currents - the battle between George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison to establish whether AC or direct current (DC) would be used for electricity transmission. But as far as posterity goes, time has not been kind to Tesla.

Born in what is now Croatia to Serbian parents, he moved to New York in 1884 and developed radio controlled vehicles, wireless energy and the first hydro-electric plant at Niagara Falls. But he was an eccentric. He believed celibacy spurred on the brain, thought he had communicated with extraterrestrials, and fell in love with a pigeon.

Over recent decades he has drifted into relative obscurity, while Edison is lauded as one of the world's greatest inventors.

But his memory is kept alive by legions of "geeks" and science historians. A Tesla museum on the site of his former laboratory is being planned after a crowdfunding project orchestrated by The Oatmeal cartoon site. It raised more than its target of $850,000 - which will be matched by the New York state authorities - in the first week. The total is now well over $1m.

-----------------

Except for the Tesla coil, I had never heard of Tesla. I finished High School in 77 and went through 2 years tech school studying electricity and never heard of the guy.

It was only when I started using the Internet did I discover what an amazing man he was.

I finished high school in 1944. Read about Tesla when I was 14. This got me into electronics. Still doing electronics. Did repairs in the US Navy SeaBees in WWll. How things have changed since then. WW

Reply to
WW

Where did you read about Tesla? In assigned school books?

Reply to
Metspitzer

I think a bigger factor is that Edison's inventions covered many things that relied on technology but that were in very different areas, eg the phonograph, light bulb, adding sound to movies, stock ticker, etc. Tesla's AFAIK, were confined to the field of electricity, with his major focus being on high freq AC which he was trying to develop as a way to send power without wires.

Also, many of the inventions of Edison were ones that a typical person saw, used and that they could actually hold in their hand, eg the light bulb.

Reply to
trader4

One of the reasons usenet dying is cuz total morons like yerelf have no clue how it works and can't be bothered to learn. For example, in the post below, you give a link to an article, then post the article without making any disctinction between your input and the article itself. That's bad form in any format. Then, at the end, you finally add a line to indicate, what!? The article has ended? You are now posting in yer own words? Chrystonacrutch!! What dolts.

Another reason usenet is dying is cuz newsreader clients from arrogant asshole companies like M$ and Google can't be bothered to make newsreader clients that adhere, by default, to usenet standards and users can't be bothered to set them up so they will. WW's post is not even differentiated from the OPs post by any kind of usenet quote attribution stds. Friggin losers! Ya bitch about usenet being crappy, yet yer precisely the reason it's crappy!

nb

Reply to
notbob

"In the United States during this time Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture."

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Lots of (americans) don't know who Dick Cheney is. Or Don Rumsfeld.

Reply to
Alex G. Bell

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Reply to
Metspitzer

One of the reasons usenet dying is cuz total morons like yerelf have no clue how it works and can't be bothered to learn. For example, in the post below, you give a link to an article, then post the article without making any disctinction between your input and the article itself. That's bad form in any format. Then, at the end, you finally add a line to indicate, what!? The article has ended? You are now posting in yer own words? Chrystonacrutch!! What dolts.

Another reason usenet is dying is cuz newsreader clients from arrogant asshole companies like M$ and Google can't be bothered to make newsreader clients that adhere, by default, to usenet standards and users can't be bothered to set them up so they will. WW's post is not even differentiated from the OPs post by any kind of usenet quote attribution stds. Friggin losers! Ya bitch about usenet being crappy, yet yer precisely the reason it's crappy!

nb

Reply to
WW

Holy crap! Yer so braindead you can't even reply to a post correctly! You put yer reply behind my sig so it disappeared completely when I tried to reply. HolyJesusonthecross!! Where do they come from?

Look, n*****ts, I'm almost 65, so don't give me any of that "old fart" crap. If you can learn electronics, you can learn computers. Hell, I'm jes now learning basic electronics. It's fun.

Pull yer head out!

nb

Reply to
notbob

Certainly not in my school in the 50's and 60's. Never heard of they guy until many years later. He did not have a good press agent compared to Edison. There is an Edison, NJ, but no Tesla NY.

Quick info here

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Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Don't forget that ATT and Verizon no longer carry new servers and many people have never heard of newsgroups.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Since news readers need configuration to use, it discourages some. I wish news readers would adopt something like coming preconfigured to use a good server like Eternal-september.org. If Eternal-september.org would allow "reading" messages without UN/PW it might increase popularity. If people saw how useful Usenet "could" be, they might be willing to apply for a UN/PW to participate. New users should be warned that thick skin is required.

Anonymous postings are frequently abusive anyway.

Reply to
Metspitzer

Most of the people that read / post to this newsgroup probably went to high school with Tesla.

Reply to
Young Man

So why are you so down about nntp.aioe.org?

It does exactly what you suggest.

Reply to
Super User

Probably Jr. High was the first time (could have been earlier). Yes.

Reply to
krw

I am not down on aioe. If newsreaders came configured with aioe, that would be useful too.

Reply to
Metspitzer

Yah, I suspect much of history as we know it is false.

Wealthy people have always owned the printing presses...and you don't become wealthy by playing nice.

Of course, now that we have a bazillion cell phone cameras and blogs, the truth is harder for the wealthy to hide.

Reply to
Domicile Dude

No newsreader comes pre-configured to use any particular news server, for the same reasons that no e-mail client comes pre-configured to use any particular mail server.

E-mail programs (clients) and usenet clients are practically identical in how they operate and what they do. Usenet messages are practically identical to e-mail in many ways. Many e-mail clients are also usenet clients.

I can flip back and forth between e-mail and usenet with Netscape Communicator, for example. Can do the same with Outlook Express and many others.

I would argue that usenet is EASIER to setup compared to POP or IMAP e-mail. There are 3 or 4 other setting you have to mess with for e-mail (authentication method, user-name and password, setting the incoming and outgoing servers, SSL, port 25 vs 995, etc). Configuring a client for usenet access is a breeze compared to that.

Reply to
Super User

2, actually-- and a dozen others across the country.

But there is a Tesla WV & a Tesla Calif.

Guess I just had a good public school education. I can remember talking about Tesla in 8th grade science in 1960-something.

Jim

Reply to
Jim Elbrecht

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