Tesla is Overrated - Debunking the Cult of Tesla

[Mick West]

Nikola Tesla is a popular figure in conspiracy culture. A lone genius who apparently invented everything we use today, and who was on the brink of discovering free energy when his work was brutally suppressed by the government.

It's not even just a conspiracy culture thing, the cult of Tesla extends into mainstream geek culture (which I'm a part of myself, being a computer games programmer). That same lone genius myth appeals to them in a similar way:

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla

And yet, much of the Tesla Worship is based on misconceptions.

http://edisontechcenter.org/tesladebunked.html

Myth 1: Tesla invented polyphase AC power: FALSE. First there was a hand-cranked AC generator developed by Hippolyte Pixii in 1832. Single phase AC power was being used more in Europe by many inventors in the early 1880s. As early as the late 1870's Germany had developed a 2 phase AC generator. In New York City Tesla had approached investors in 1886 with his AC system and did not have success. So in the United States in New York there was little confidence in AC power systems. From a world wide perspective there was many working on AC systems. August Haselwander and C.S. Bradley(a former Edison employee) created the first 3 phase AC generators(1887). Mikhail Dolivo-Dobrovsky built the first full 3 phase AC generation and distribution system in the 1888-1891 period. Tesla continued to be stuck in his two-phase system which proved to be less effective than three.

It goes on to debunk the claims that Tesla invented the transformer, the induction coil, the loudspeaker, radar, fluorescent lamps, microwave transmitters and commercial hydroelectric power. All with references to the actual inventors.

What Tesla WAS, and why he is such a popular figure today, is an excellent self-publicist. He did not invent AC, he was just one of many people working on it, but he, being a showman, helped popularized its use. He was so good at this that eventually he just had to mention that he had developed free energy, or some kind of directed energy death ray, and people would believe him and proceed to invent an entire mythology around it.

Of course he was not JUST a showman, he was also a scientist and a businessman. But the persistence of the Tesla myth come mostly from the legacy of his showmanship promoting his science and business interest.

Tesla did very little science after 1928, and after his death in 1943, aged 86, the FBI, perhaps taken in by his mythology, seized his papers to look for evidence of his "Death Ray"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla#Death

On 9 January, after learning of Tesla's death, the FBI ordered the Alien Property Custodian to seize all of Tesla's belongings,[161]​ even though Tesla was an American citizen.[162]​ Tesla's entire estate from the Hotel New Yorker and other New York City hotels, was transported to the Manhattan Storage and Warehouse Company under OAP seal.[161]​
Dr. John G. Trump, a professor at M.I.T. and well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee, was called in to analyze the Tesla items in OAP custody[161]​ to look for any material that could be sensitive in nature in relationship to the ongoing war at the time.[citation needed]​ After a three-day investigation, Trump concluded in his report that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands, stating:

His [Tesla's] thoughts and efforts during at least the past 15 years were primarily of a speculative, philosophical, and somewhat promotional character often concerned with the production and wireless transmission of power; but did not include new, sound, workable principles or methods for realizing such results.[163]​

In a box purported to contain a part of Tesla's "death ray", Trump found a 45 year-old piece of basic electrical test equipment.[164]​

Of course the conspiracy theories will tell you this is all lies. That the FBI took his papers because there WAS a death ray, and the FBI took it and issues the above cover story.

But that's just mythology. That's just the result of Tesla's storytelling. He was a great scientist, but there were many other great scientists who were simply less great (or less inclined) than Tesla in the art of self promotion.

And if you think Oatmeal is excessively fawning over Tesla, has a look at what Tesla Fans wrote back in 1944, in the book that was perhaps responsible for starting the cult of Tesla:

http://www.rastko.org.rs/istorija/tesla/oniell-tesla.html

Even the gods of old, in the wildest imaginings of their worshipers, never undertook such gigantic tasks of world-wide dimension as those which Tesla attempted and accomplished. On the basis of his hopes, his dreams, and his achievements he rated the status of the Olympian gods, and the Greeks would have so enshrined him. Little is the wonder that so-called practical men, with their noses stuck in profit-and-loss statements, did not understand him and thought him strange.

The light of human progress is not a dim glow that gradually becomes more luminous with time. The panorama of human evolution is illumined by sudden bursts of dazzling brilliance in intellectual accomplishments that throw their beams far ahead to give us a glimpse of the distant future, that we may more correctly guide our wavering steps today. Tesla, by virtue of the amazing discoveries and inventions which he showered on the world, becomes one of the most resplendent flashes that has ever brightened the scroll of human advancement.

Tesla created the modern era; he was unquestionably one of the world's greatest geniuses, but he leaves no offspring, no legatees of his brilliant mind, who might aid in administering that world; he created fortunes for multitudes of others but himself died penniless, spurning wealth that might be gained from his discoveries. Even as he walked among the teeming millions of New York he became a fabled individual who seemed to belong to the far-distant future or to have come to us from the mystical realm of the gods, for he seemed to be an admixture of a Jupiter or a Thor who hurled the shafts of lightning; an Ajax who defied the Jovian bolts; a Prometheus who transmuted energy into electricity to spread over the earth; an Aurora who would light the skies as a terrestrial electric lamp; a Mazda who created a sun in a tube; a Hercules who shook the earth with his mechanical vibrators; a Mercury who bridged the ambient realms of space with his wireless waves-and a Hermes who gave birth to an electrical soul in the earth that set it pulsating from pole to pole.

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[Mick West]

Here's another bit of The Oatmeal's over-the-top Tesla worship cartoon:

Reality:

In 1917, at the height of World War I, Tesla proposed that radio location techniques might help find submerged submarines with a fluorescent screen indicator.[11]​ While radar would eventually be capable of detecting submarines on the surface, the required radio frequencies are quickly attenuated in water, making this technique ineffective for detecting submerged submarines.

And what he actually said:

http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/1917-08-00.htm

"Now we are coming to the method of locating such hidden metal masses as submarines by an electric ray," replied the electrical wizard. "That is the thing which seems to hold great promises. If we can shoot out a concentrated ray comprising a stream of minute electric charges vibrating electrically at tremendous frequency, say millions of cycles per second, and then intercept this ray, after it has been reflected by a submarine hull for example, and cause this intercepted ray to illuminate a fluorescent screen (similar to the X-ray method) on the same or another ship, then our problem of locating the hidden submarine will have been solved.

"This electric ray would necessarily have to have an oscillation wave length extremely short and here is where the great problem presents itself; i.e., to be able to develop a sufficiently short wave length and a large amount of power, say several hundred thousand or even several thousand horse-power. I have produced oscillators having a wave length of but a few millimeters.

"Suppose, for example, that a vessel is fitted with such an electric ray projector. The average ship has available from say 10,000 to 15,000 H.P. The exploring ray could be flashed out intermittently and thus it would be possible to hurl forth a very formidable beam of pulsating electric energy, involving a discharge of hundreds of thousands of horse-power. The electric energy would be taken from the ship's plant for a fraction of a minute only, being absorbed at a tremendous rate by suitable condensers and other apparatus, from which it could be liberated at any rate desired.

"Imagine that the ray has been shot out and that in sweeping thru the water it encounters the hull of a submarine. What happens? Just this: The ray would be reflected, and by an appropriate device we would intercept and translate this reflected ray, as for instance by allowing the ray to impinge on a phosphorescent screen, acting in a similar way to the X-ray screen. The ray would be invisible to the unaided eye. The reflected ray could be firstly, intercepted by the one or more ships in the fleet; or secondly, it would be possible for the ship originating the ray to intercept the refracted portion by sending out the ray intermittently and also by taking advantage of what is known as the after-glow effect, which means that the ray would affect the registering screen an appreciable time after its origination. This would be necessary to allow the ship to move forward sufficiently to get within range of the reflected ray from the submarine, as the reflection would not be in the same direction as the originating ray.

"To make this clearer, consider that a concentrated ray from a searchlight is thrown on a balloon at night. When the spot of light strikes the balloon, the latter at once becomes visible from many different angles. The same effect would be created with the electric ray if properly applied. When the ray struck the rough hull of a submarine it would be reflected, but not in a concentrated beam - it would spread out; which is just what we want. Suppose several vessels are steaming along in company ; it thus becomes evident that several of them will intercept the reflected ray and accordingly be warned of the presence of the submarine or submarines. The vessels would at once lower their nets, if so equipt, order their gun crews to quarters and double the look-out watch. The important thing to know is that submarines are present. Forewarned is forearmed!

"The Teutons are clever, you know; very, very clever, but we shall beat them," said Dr. Tesla confidently. [It may be of interest to our readers to know that several important electrical war schemes will shortly be laid before the War and Navy Departments by Dr. Tesla, the details of which we naturally cannot now publish.]

So he had a cool idea for detecting if submarines were nearby, which would not actually work. This is not the same thing as inventing radar. Again, Tesla WAS a great scientist. But he was not the only scientist. The history of electricity is not just Tesla vs. Edison. Many people had similar ideas for using electrical waves for remote detection.

 

[Unregistered]

LOL. Hardly anyone has heard of Tesla. History makes much of Edison whilst Tesla is kept in the background despite the fact that Edison championed Direct Current and poo poohed A/C as much as possible.

Why start on poor old Tesla, who was such a 'businessman' that he gave away his patents which would have made him one of the wealthiest men on earth.

There seems much in Tesla's assertion that energy is 'freely' available just by tapping into it. The movement of Earth's iron core is recognised by science as a huge and complex dynamo responsible for many things including protection from solar winds and plate tectonics. Is it in the interests of big business to recognise this tho?

Still, if you want to have a go at him, I'm sure he will not be bothered.

BTW, I cannot work out how to start a new thread. If you wouldn't mind clarifying how to I would appreciate it as I wanted to get some thoughts on why Felix Baumgartner didn't need a heatshield.

 

[Fourthmeal]

Surprise, I do not agree with you on most of this. Did you bring this up after I made my comments about him?

First thing first, when you say "debunked", you act like you are correct. Like debunking something ends the discussion/debate. My belief is, unless you were present at the time personally, it simply is not possible to do this. As time passes, time erodes truth and myth/legend/conspiracy takes its place. I'm sure you'll agree with me on that one. The thing is, Tesla was engaged against VERY powerful people and they were largely successful in obliteration of his legacy and deeds to humanity. I relate his strife similar to the one against the Native Americans vs. the White Man. Over time the Natives were, for a time, demonized in stories and fables, and literally history was re-written to deface them. Some of this has now been corrected. A similar demonizing and history-wiping occurred with the Christian vs. Zoroastrian faith. History is largely written by the "winners". Tesla's legacy took the same hit.


I don't have time to go toe to toe with you but I'll point out something:

What Tesla WAS, and why he is such a popular figure today, is an excellent self-publicist.

No, he was a horrible publicist. He was an introvert and had many disorders, such as OCD. He was easily duped by Edison, and again by JP Morgan, which led to hard lessons of who to trust in life. He was very successful in some ways but in others (such as with women and a love life) he was a total failure.

Tesla had a very unique skill/ability. Purely in his mind, he could run a machine he envisioned. He could simulate wear and tear in his mind, and visualize what needed improvement before it was made. A very good example of the result of this would be the Tesla Turbine. One moving part, high efficiency, great versatility, and pretty much unknown.

There's a ton more. Remember that he was vilified by Elites back then and they swore that he would be wiped from history. With the exception of just a few remaining journals, most of the legacy was lost. Meanwhile people like Edison (who was an Elitist douche, know this) have continued through history as really important people. IMO Tesla has not been praised enough.

 

[Mick West]

Debunked means removing the bunk. So when I say "Tesla Debunked" that means I'm addressing specific claims made about Tesla, like him having invented the Radar or Transformers.

Why do you say he was a horrible self-publicist? It seems like he was very popular in the press, who covered his vague ideas as if they were full formed inventions,a and accepted his stories as fact.

Edison being a dick does not automatically make Tesla the inventor of everything.

 

[Fourthmeal]

Acknowledged that he's not the inventor of everything. I've never seen those Oatmeal pages but I don't think many people believe he invented AC. At least all my research I've done has never said that. His "magnetic vortex motors" were just the first successful run at making AC viable.

http://edisontechcenter.org/tesladebunked.html made me laugh. I've not seen so much propaganda in a long time.

Views of Tesla don't get along with hardcore skeptics. Why? My theory is that they don't like the guy for his beliefs and experiences. Especially those dealing with ET. But, that's another chapter.

 

[Mick West]

LOL. Hardly anyone has heard of Tesla. History makes much of Edison whilst Tesla is kept in the background despite the fact that Edison championed Direct Current and poo poohed A/C as much as possible.

Why start on poor old Tesla, who was such a 'businessman' that he gave away his patents which would have made him one of the wealthiest men on earth.

There seems much in Tesla's assertion that energy is 'freely' available just by tapping into it. The movement of Earth's iron core is recognised by science as a huge and complex dynamo responsible for many things including protection from solar winds and plate tectonics. Is it in the interests of big business to recognise this tho?

The thing is though that's just the mythology of Tesla. Sure, he foolishly gave away some patents - but does that somehow validate the other claims made about him?

Tesla was a great inventor, that's for sure, just not the demigod that popular culture (and conspiracy culture) has made him out to be.

BTW, I cannot work out how to start a new thread. If you wouldn't mind clarifying how to I would appreciate it as I wanted to get some thoughts on why Felix Baumgartner didn't need a heatshield.

You need to be registered . But Baumgartner did not need a heat shield because that's only required when slowing from orbital velocity. The orbital velocity of the Space Shuttle is 17,580 mph. Baumgartner started at speed zero and only briefly got as fast as 834 mph, which is not fast enough to generate much heat in the thin cold air of the upper atmosphere. In fact a much bigger problem was staying warm enough.

 

[Mick West]

http://edisontechcenter.org/tesladebunked.html made me laugh. I've not seen so much propaganda in a long time.

Well let's debunk it then. What there is incorrect?

 

[Unregistered]

But Baumgartner did not need a heat shield because that's only required when slowing from orbital velocity. The orbital velocity of the Space Shuttle is 17,580 mph. Baumgartner started at speed zero and only briefly got as fast as 834 mph, which is not fast enough to generate much heat in the thin cold air of the upper atmosphere. In fact a much bigger problem was staying warm enough.

Sorry, meant to say thanks for above explanation.

 

[Fourthmeal]

Well let's debunk it then. What there is incorrect?

The biggest trouble I'm going to have here is that the sources claim that its a myth he invented things. Most people know the timeline, and understand that Tesla didn't invent everything, he invented a WORKING version that was suitable for continuous use.

Let's be honest here, the Oatmeal is a satirical site. They are swinging through generalizations and yes, making shit up. But the raw facts remain, the guy has the patents on WORKING, functional, and efficient models of the A/C motor and generator, phosphorescent lamp. When it is said that he invented something, yes it remains that there are people who came up with the raw idea first, and actually all my sources show that he did not hide the fact he was working on someone else's invention. What he should remain famous for is making working versions for everyday use.

 

[Mick West]

The biggest trouble I'm going to have here is that the sources claim that its a myth he invented things. Most people know the timeline, and understand that Tesla didn't invent everything, he invented a WORKING version that was suitable for continuous use.

Let's be honest here, the Oatmeal is a satirical site. They are swinging through generalizations and yes, making shit up. But the raw facts remain, the guy has the patents on WORKING, functional, and efficient models of the A/C motor and generator, phosphorescent lamp. When it is said that he invented something, yes it remains that there are people who came up with the raw idea first, and actually all my sources show that he did not hide the fact he was working on someone else's invention. What he should remain famous for is making working versions for everyday use.

Sure, but what I'm debunking is the "making shit up" things. There are many people in the conspiracy culture that will verbatim believe everything in that Oatmeal comic.

And while it's just a comic, the author just raised $1.3 million to build a Tesla museum, and he links to his comic as a source of facts about Tesla.

http://www.indiegogo.com/teslamuseum

So he's perpetuating the myths in a very big way.

The Wikipedia article on Tesla is much more reasonable:

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

 

[Fourthmeal]

I'll give you that. "The Oatmeal" is making shit up. It is cool that money was raised for a museum but I'm against the part where lies were used to do it. The truth of his inventions and impact on daily life could very well stand up on their own.

I guess the part I disagree with is that he's overrated. The other part I disagree with is regarding the FBI raid. Reality is that this guy had the secrets to radiant energy, FREE energy. This can't be given to the masses, of course (in a world of enslavement.)

Well let's debunk it then. What there is incorrect?

The biggest trouble I'm going to have here is that the sources claim that its a myth he invented things. Most people know the timeline, and understand that Tesla didn't invent everything, he invented a WORKING version that was suitable for continuous use.

Let's be honest here, the Oatmeal is a satirical site. They are swinging through generalizations and yes, making shit up. But the raw facts remain, the guy has the patents on WORKING, functional, and efficient models of the A/C motor and generator, phosphorescent lamp. When it is said that he invented something, yes it remains that there are people who came up with the raw idea first, and actually all my sources show that he did not hide the fact he was working on someone else's invention. What he should remain famous for is making working versions for everyday use.

 

[Mick West]

The other part I disagree with is regarding the FBI raid. Reality is that this guy had the secrets to radiant energy, FREE energy. This can't be given to the masses, of course (in a world of enslavement.)

Other than that not being something the elite would want out there, where's the evidence he had these secrets?

I find that whole thing rather bamboozling that people would think that when you consider two things:

A) How much was known about energy then
B) How much is known now.

I mean, we are talking this:

vs. this:

The advances in science and technology since then are astonishing. Sure he was handy with AC, transformers, and radio waves. But was he really more knowledgeable than the 100,000 people with Phds in electrical engineering since then?

 

[MikeC]

I thought FBI raid, in the middle of WW2, was more along the lines of "we can't let the enemy have this, and let's make sure we get hold of it to help win the war....WHADAYAMEAN HE WAS B-ESSING????"

 

[Mick West]

I thought FBI raid, in the middle of WW2, was more along the lines of "we can't let the enemy have this, and let's make sure we get hold of it to help win the war....WHADAYAMEAN HE WAS B-ESSING????"

Indeed:
http://vault.fbi.gov/nikola-tesla

However it seems like it was the Office of Alien Property who took the files, but they were eventually all turned over to Tesla's estate.

The FMB got a constant stream of requests about this, and had a form response:

 

[Fourthmeal]

It wasn't that he was more knowledgeable. Indeed there are a lot bright people working today. He would be considered an outcast today though. Imagine, an inventor that goes rigid in front of groups, catatonic, and then snaps out of it and claims he's seen the future and knows how to make the world a better place. That's crazy. Bat-shit nuts, actually. But that's exactly the type of guy Tesla was. He was crazy and he made it work to his advantage. Remember I was talking about his ability to run something in his head, and take it apart (in his head) and inspect it for wear and tear, and create a working product from his own mind's solutions. Sure, as we discussed he didn't invent AC power. He just invented (and patented) a workable version.

Let's be honest, his goal was unlimited free energy for all, and he was an advocate of extra-terrestrials (in fact he claimed to have picked up transmissions from a relatively local source), and he worked with an impassioned heart instead of by what made profit. These views were frowned upon by then-modern society. But today, these days, these "better world" views have a place, though not within the government sector, at this time.. Everything has a proper time and place though.

 

[Unregistered]

I don't agree that Tesla is 'over rated'. He was undoubtedly a genius and a philanthropist. J.P Morgan used him capriciously and despicably and to the detriment of mankind IMO. J.P. Morgan deliberately sidelined/marginalised him.

TPTB have virtually erased him from history up until recently when the internet allowed people to find out more about him and his place in history. Power to the people.

Even if it is accepted to date he was wrong on some things, (which may in the future be revisited and found correct), his legacy is enduring and massive and unacknowledged showing that if anything, he was underrated.

Mythbusters tested his quake machine and deemed it 'busted'. I see it as being entirely vindicated. A 5lb oscillator set at the correct frequency managed to shake thousands of tons of bridge. Ok, it didn't bring it down but if it the principle was vindicated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUy2HYoUd6M

Death rays are fact nowadays so another bullseye

 

[Mick West]

TPTB have virtually erased him from history up until recently when the internet allowed people to find out more about him and his place in history. Power to the people.

Can you back that up? You might want to tell J. Edgar Hoover, who was getting daily letters asking what the FBI did with Tesla's files.

Or do a Newspaper Archive Search for Nikola Tesla, and see how many newspaper stories there are in each decade.
http://newspaperarchive.com/tags/nikola-tesla

Tesla's popularity only faded slightly after his death, and was revived in popular culture in the 1970's. Hardly "erased from history"

Wild speculation about Tesla's work has continued basically unabated for 100 years:

And there was no need for the internet to "allow people to find out more about him", there's over a hundred books about him currently in print, and many more from the last 70 years.

The mythology of Tesla in part is due to these books, in particular to one book: Prodigal Genius, by John Joseph O'Neill - 1944, which recounts the life of Tesla in an overly-dramatized manner, and is responsible for the popular accounts of many of the myths which have been repeated over the decades until they become accepted as facts. Exceprt:

Even the gods of old, in the wildest imaginings of their worshipers, never undertook such gigantic tasks of world-wide dimension as those which Tesla attempted and accomplished. On the basis of his hopes, his dreams, and his achievements he rated the status of the Olympian gods, and the Greeks would have so enshrined him. Little is the wonder that so-called practical men, with their noses stuck in profit-and-loss statements, did not understand him and thought him strange.

The light of human progress is not a dim glow that gradually becomes more luminous with time. The panorama of human evolution is illumined by sudden bursts of dazzling brilliance in intellectual accomplishments that throw their beams far ahead to give us a glimpse of the distant future, that we may more correctly guide our wavering steps today. Tesla, by virtue of the amazing discoveries and inventions which he showered on the world, becomes one of the most resplendent flashes that has ever brightened the scroll of human advancement.

Tesla created the modern era; he was unquestionably one of the world's greatest geniuses, but he leaves no offspring, no legatees of his brilliant mind, who might aid in administering that world; he created fortunes for multitudes of others but himself died penniless, spurning wealth that might be gained from his discoveries. Even as he walked among the teeming millions of New York he became a fabled individual who seemed to belong to the far-distant future or to have come to us from the mystical realm of the gods, for he seemed to be an admixture of a Jupiter or a Thor who hurled the shafts of lightning; an Ajax who defied the Jovian bolts; a Prometheus who transmuted energy into electricity to spread over the earth; an Aurora who would light the skies as a terrestrial electric lamp; a Mazda who created a sun in a tube; a Hercules who shook the earth with his mechanical vibrators; a Mercury who bridged the ambient realms of space with his wireless waves-and a Hermes who gave birth to an electrical soul in the earth that set it pulsating from pole to pole.

It's the cult of Tesla. A cult that The Oatmeal and others continue today.

 

[Mick West]

Interesting timeline of AC power:

http://edisontechcenter.org/AC-PowerHistory.html

With an interesting discussion on who invented the induction motor:
http://edisontechcenter.org/GalileoFerraris.html#whoInvented

I wonder if the pro-Tesla people consider this is this part of some pro-Edison anti-Tesla conspiracy, given that it's the "Edison" Tech center?

 

[Mick West]

Tesla/Oatmeal debunking Article in Forbes:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkna...-wasnt-god-and-thomas-edison-wasnt-the-devil/

Oatmeal response, wherein he basically agrees with many of the criticisms, but give him a break it's just a comic so he exaggerates for the sake of comedy, and P.S. Edison was a dick, and Tesla is still awesome.
http://theoatmeal.com/blog/tesla_response

 

[Dan Wilson]

http://science.howstuffworks.com/nikola-tesla2.htm

Here is another good timeline/biography for anyone who is interested. I think what contributed to all the bunk we now see surrounding Tesla is the fact that the man was very much a genius but a terrible businessman. He always found himself in bad business deals. Towards the end of his career he quickly ran out of funding so he began to make weird claims to catch attention and funding from the military. This was when he claimed he could invent death rays, space ships, free energy, and other fantastic things. As far as anyone can tell, none of these claims were based on anything real and he was just trying to get attention and funding. It did not work, however, and his Tesla tower was ultimately dismantled. Now in a time where "green technology" is something everyone is looking for, his claims have made a huge comeback and with them, a lot of bunk.

http://www.cioinsight.com/c/a/Expert-Voices/Remembering-Nikola-Tesla-Lessons-for-Todays-IT-Leaders/

As much as I admire Tesla's brilliance, courage, and accomplishments, it seems to me that his greatest

lesson​

​

for the 21st century IT professional is the quiet warning his life offers when viewed as a whole and not just in the confines of his work.
To be sure, Nikola Tesla is one of the most important inventors in history, his funeral was attended by heads of state -- he even has an automotive company and a planet named after him. But he also died in poverty, alone and living in a hotel, the victim of his poor career decisions.
Tesla famously tore up his contract with Westinghouse for the generous royalties he was owed on the Niagara Falls Power Project mentioned above, all because he was gratified that Westinghouse believed in his idea when no one else did and he wanted the budget-stricken project to succeed.
Disputes with J.P. Morgan brought an end to his near open-ended financing from the banker who, like all stakeholders, needed proper management and attention.
He never married or had children, believing a personal life would distract him from his calling as an inventor.
He had a history of losing patents for his inventions, including (at least for a time) losing the patent for the invention of radio to Marconi.

 

[Pete Tar]

Don't forget David Bowie's appearance as Tesla in The Prestige, adding to the mythic perception...

Angier pays Tesla to make a copy of a teleportation machine that he believed Borden used, providing the inventor with much-needed financing after Edison's smear campaign proves successful in drying up other sources. Angier finishes deciphering Borden's diary to discover it was a fraud supplied by Olivia, but an angry confrontation with Tesla reveals that his machine actually works, but creates duplicates. Thomas Edison's henchmen arrive to torch the lab and Tesla leaves, although not before completing Angier's machine and warning him to destroy it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prestige_(film)
the scene...

and hugh jackman talking about Tesla, continuing the suppresion of genius angle...


Also, an elephant had to die for Edison to win the battle...

1903: Thomas Edison stages his highly publicized electrocution of an elephant in order to demonstrate the dangers of alternating current, which, if it posed any immediate danger at all, was to Edison's own direct current.
Edison had established direct current at the standard for electricity distribution and was living large off the patent royalties, royalties he was in no mood to lose when George Westinghouse and Nicola Tesla showed up with alternating current.
Edison's aggressive campaign to discredit the new current took the macabre form of a series of animal electrocutions using AC (a killing process he referred to snidely as getting "Westinghoused"). Stray dogs and cats were the most easily obtained, but he also zapped a few cattle and horses.
Edison got his big chance, though, when the Luna Park Zoo at Coney Island decided that Topsy, a cranky female elephant who had squashed three handlers in three years (including one idiot who tried feeding her a lighted cigarette), had to go.
Park officials originally considered hanging Topsy but the SPCA objected on humanitarian grounds, so someone suggesting having the pachyderm "ride the lightning," a practice that had been used in the American penal system since 1890 to dispatch the condemned. Edison was happy to oblige.

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/01/dayintech_0104

 

[Pete Tar]

Even the gods of old, in the wildest imaginings of their worshipers, never undertook such gigantic tasks of world-wide dimension as those which Tesla attempted and accomplished. On the basis of his hopes, his dreams, and his achievements he rated the status of the Olympian gods, and the Greeks would have so enshrined him. Little is the wonder that so-called practical men, with their noses stuck in profit-and-loss statements, did not understand him and thought him strange.

The light of human progress is not a dim glow that gradually becomes more luminous with time. The panorama of human evolution is illumined by sudden bursts of dazzling brilliance in intellectual accomplishments that throw their beams far ahead to give us a glimpse of the distant future, that we may more correctly guide our wavering steps today. Tesla, by virtue of the amazing discoveries and inventions which he showered on the world, becomes one of the most resplendent flashes that has ever brightened the scroll of human advancement.

Tesla created the modern era; he was unquestionably one of the world's greatest geniuses, but he leaves no offspring, no legatees of his brilliant mind, who might aid in administering that world; he created fortunes for multitudes of others but himself died penniless, spurning wealth that might be gained from his discoveries. Even as he walked among the teeming millions of New York he became a fabled individual who seemed to belong to the far-distant future or to have come to us from the mystical realm of the gods, for he seemed to be an admixture of a Jupiter or a Thor who hurled the shafts of lightning; an Ajax who defied the Jovian bolts; a Prometheus who transmuted energy into electricity to spread over the earth; an Aurora who would light the skies as a terrestrial electric lamp; a Mazda who created a sun in a tube; a Hercules who shook the earth with his mechanical vibrators; a Mercury who bridged the ambient realms of space with his wireless waves-and a Hermes who gave birth to an electrical soul in the earth that set it pulsating from pole to pole.

mmmm that's good hyperbole.
Love me some old-style Rabelasian prose.

 

[Mick West]

More Tesla debunking at SXSW:
http://txchnologist.com/post/45139747427/tesla-vs-edison-debate-ignites-at-sxsw

Matthew Inman (The Oatmeal) defends and explains his comic.
​

 

[lotek]

"his goal was unlimited free energy for all"

to postulate that this is not the goal of modern researchers is naive and aggressive. its not all about money, not matter how much you want it to be.

 

[mupty]

Tesla's popularity only faded slightly after his death, and was revived in popular culture in the 1970's. Hardly "erased from history"

Even though its very late, I would actually like to add to this because physics just seems to be something that people are afraid of and toss aside, it doesn't really bode well for us if people believe the contrary and neglect the facts.
We have an SI unit for magnetic fields thats named after Tesla, called Teslas, his name is repeated constantly in the world of electricity and magnetism.... Anyone with any basic knowledge of physics would know of Tesla and his REAL work. Every physics textbook I've had or read has a picture of Tesla, what he did and his accomplishments.
It just goes to show how physics is just being swept aside here in the western world and how little people actually know about science.

 

[Cairenn]

But most folks don't know Ampere, or Ohm, or any of the other folks with electrical units named for them.

I don't think anyone was doubting his real contributions just the hero worship by folks that have little science training. They read and promote his 'free energy', without understanding that it doesn't exist.

 

[MikeC]

So you are suggesting that teh unit was named after him in order to encourage people to forget him like they mostly have Ohms and Ampere and Faraday?????

 

[Cairenn]

I don't think most folks take the time to think about what units of electricity or most other 'physics' related units of measurement. They remember Watts, because it on packages of light bulbs, 'amps' because they buy fuses for their car, volts because of voltage requirements.

 

[dan theman]

I wonder if the pro-Tesla people consider this is this part of some pro-Edison anti-Tesla conspiracy, given that it's the "Edison" Tech center?

Most likely, edison tech center is biased.

 

[David Fraser]

Slightly off topic but I noticed a Facebook comment the other day about Tesla that said "his patents are been hidden from public view". I enquired as to how a patent can be hidden from public view and was informed "he signed the rights away". Now as I understand it an inventor is able to keep some of the details of an invention from public view but I would assume there is still a record of the patent application. Also what happens after the 20 year period. Are all the details disclosed?

 

[NoParty]

Hardly anyone has heard of Tesla.

Gotta say, this almost made me do a spit-take!
OMG, it seems like I've heard a million legends about Tesla my entire life!

Hell, I once met a little kid in Oregon, who told me he was named "Tesla."
I cringed, but asked, do you know if you were named for the band, or the legendary scientist?"
The tot shrugged, but headbanger dad quickly chimed in that it was a tribute to the hair band that gave the world Psychotic Supper.

But then the dad mused…"But, uh, I think maybe the band was named for some science guy."

Hmmmpff!! "Hardly anyone," indeed.



…and then of course there's Tesla Motors...

 

[JRBids]

Sure, but what I'm debunking is the "making shit up" things. There are many people in the conspiracy culture that will verbatim believe everything in that Oatmeal comic.

And while it's just a comic, the author just raised $1.3 million to build a Tesla museum, and he links to his comic as a source of facts about Tesla.

http://www.indiegogo.com/teslamuseum



So he's perpetuating the myths in a very big way.

The Wikipedia article on Tesla is much more reasonable:

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

Right near where I live. Pass it often! It's right on Tesla St. I have a friend on the board of directors, been inside. Nothing from Tesla in there, however.

 

[derrick06]

Good information here guys! I agree @Mick West I notice a lot of people use claims that never seem to have a source when speaking of Tesla. He certainly was intelligent, but he was human and wasn't perfect. In an article I once found online http://www.mind-course.com/wireless.html it makes all sorts of claims and info such as

" The method he would use to produce this wireless power was to employ the earth's own resonance with its specific vibrational frequency to conduct AC electricity via a large electric oscillator. When J.P. Morgan agreed to underwrite Tesla's project, a strange structure was begun and almost completed near Wardenclyffe in Long Island, N.Y. Looking like a huge lattice-like, wooden oil derrick with a mushroom cap, it had a total height of 200 feet. Then suddenly, Morgan withdrew his support to the project in 1906, and eventually the structure was dynamited and brought down in 1917."

But it's just posted in the article. I don't see any source or anything of that nature showing that "It's wireless power employs the earths resonance." I always thought the Werdenclyffe tower was "An early wireless transmission tower designed by Tesla in Shoreham, New York and intended for commercial trans-Atlantic wireless telephony, broadcasting, and proof-of-concept demonstrations of wireless power transmission. It was never fully operational, and the tower was demolished in 1917." According to what I have read in the past. Why the contradicting of view on something that was so well documented?

 

[wotgorilla]

Good information here guys! I agree @Mick West I notice a lot of people use claims that never seem to have a source when speaking of Tesla. He certainly was intelligent, but he was human and wasn't perfect. In an article I once found online http://www.mind-course.com/wireless.html it makes all sorts of claims and info such as

" The method he would use to produce this wireless power was to employ the earth's own resonance with its specific vibrational frequency to conduct AC electricity via a large electric oscillator. When J.P. Morgan agreed to underwrite Tesla's project, a strange structure was begun and almost completed near Wardenclyffe in Long Island, N.Y. Looking like a huge lattice-like, wooden oil derrick with a mushroom cap, it had a total height of 200 feet. Then suddenly, Morgan withdrew his support to the project in 1906, and eventually the structure was dynamited and brought down in 1917."

But it's just posted in the article. I don't see any source or anything of that nature showing that "It's wireless power employs the earths resonance." I always thought the Werdenclyffe tower was "An early wireless transmission tower designed by Tesla in Shoreham, New York and intended for commercial trans-Atlantic wireless telephony, broadcasting, and proof-of-concept demonstrations of wireless power transmission. It was never fully operational, and the tower was demolished in 1917." According to what I have read in the past. Why the contradicting of view on something that was so well documented?

Well, the thing of it is, it's not really all that well documented. My feeling is the article below fits the facts the best.

http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/ll_todre.html

Morgan offered Tesla $150,000 to build a transmission tower and power plant. A more realistic sum would have been $1,000,000, but Tesla took what was available and went to work immediately. In spite of what he told his investor, Tesla's actual plan was to make a large-scale demonstration of electrical power transmission without wires. This turned out to be a fatal mistake.
For his new construction project, Tesla acquired land on the cliffs of Long Island Sound. The site was called Wardenclyffe. By 1901 the Wardenclyffe project was under construction, the most challenging task being the erection of an enormous tower, rising 187 feet in the air and supporting on its top a fifty-five-ton sphere made of steel. Beneath the tower, a well-like shaft plunged 120 feet into the ground. Sixteen iron pipes were driven three hundred feet deeper so that currents could pass through them and seize hold of the earth. "In this system that I have invented," Tesla explained, "it is necessary for the machine to get a grip of the earth, otherwise it cannot shake the earth. It has to have a grip... so that the whole of this globe can quiver."
As the tower construction slowly increased, it became evident that more funds were sorely needed. But Morgan was not quick to respond. Then on December 12, 1901, the world awoke to the news that Marconi had signaled the letter "S" across the Atlantic from Cornwall, England to Newfoundland. Tesla, unruffled by the accomplishment, explained that the Italian used 17 Tesla patents to accomplish the transmission. But Morgan began to doubt Tesla. Marconi's system not only worked, it was also inexpensive.
Tesla pleaded with Morgan for more financial support, but the investor soundly refused. To make matters worse, the stock market crashed and prices for the tower's materials doubled. High prices combined with Tesla's inability to find enough willing investors eventually led to the demise of the project.

I'd add the provision that Tesla likely thought he could accomplish both goals. Evidently, he wasn't lacking self confidence. It's entirely possible that in desperation, Tesla revealed to Morgan his plans to transmit electrical power from the tower, in a last ditch effort to secure funding. And, Morgan may have replied that he had no interest in the idea of free energy. So, for a conspiracy theorist, that's all you need. It's a done deal.

The problem is, although apparently Tesla had some success transmitting energy very short distances, efficiencies were so insanely low there would be no practicable reason to do so. Other then it's application still used a century later, radio transmission.

 

[Efftup]

I think for the general mainstream, Tesla has been under rated for a very long time and is far less well known than people like Thomas Edison (who was clearly a colossal dick)

HOWEVER, it is fair to say that the cult of Tesla has really gone overboard and by those people, and therefore the information seen by the average internet browser, Tesla is WAY over rated, and stuff he sort of invented that didn't work is being blown up into conspiracy circles as suppressed technology.

Reality is that this guy had the secrets to radiant energy, FREE energy.

Do you have any evidence for this one? It seems to be the facts are A) Tesla said he had various inventions including free energy but most importantly for the US authorities a "Death Ray" b) The FBI confiscated his stuff cos they didn't want it falling into their enemies hands and they The MIT Professors report then subsequently claimed that his death ray didn't exist.
So they could have stolen and suppressed it, or it might not have existed. Unless you have some really good evidence, why assume one way or the other? The USA could really have done with a death ray on D Day, or during the Cuban missile crisis.

Views of Tesla don't get along with hardcore skeptics. Why?

Cos most of the time these days when you hear something about Tesla, it is BUNK. I have nothing against the guy, just something against bunk people say about the guy.

funnily enough, I first heard about Tesla's work via the band Tesla, whose album "The Great Radio Controversy" basically talked about how Tesla invented Radio and Marconi basically stole it off him.(It neglected to mention all the many other people around the same time that were also working on wireless telegraphy or telphony)

 

[Steve Funk]

https://www.facebook.com/TeslasEngine I missed the screening of this film yesterday, another project from George Ainsworth of "Cloud of Unknowing." Haven't seen any indication that it is on the net.

 

[Balance]

Do you mean this Death Ray?





The Title "Tesla Overrated, Debunked" Does that mean he was underrated?

 

[Mick West]

Do you mean this Death Ray?





The Title "Tesla Overrated, Debunked" Does that mean he was underrated?

Hmm, That was before I'd formalized the "Debunked: Some Claim". My meaning here was more "Tesla was overrated, and here's some debunking of stuff said about him".

 

[Balance]

Hmm, That was before I'd formalized the "Debunked: Some Claim". My meaning here was more "Tesla was overrated, and here's some debunking of stuff said about him".

Reading the thread clarified your meaning but the title was a bit confusing initially (for a simpleton like me anyway )