Edison Vs Nikola Tesla

Michael Leung
History 11CP
Research Paper
16 March 2016
Word Count: 753

Thomas Edison v. Nikola Tesla The late 19th century sparked the time of electricity, where two famous innovators, Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla brought this to the world with their battles between electricity. They both influenced each other, although never agreeing together. Edison and Tesla were different inventors from other inventors during their time, but they contributed to the nation significantly in different ways. Their attributes to the world would light everything up. Thomas Edison, born on February 11, 1847 in Ohio, received education from his mother on days he was not working with his father. Growing
older he would sell newspaper and write a few articles while selling them. This was the first of what would become a long string of entrepreneurial ventures where he saw a need and capitalized on opportunity. Edison learned to operate a telegraph when he saved a three year old and his father taught Edison. Edison moved to Louisville, Kentucky, working for The Associated Press. The night shifts allowed Edison to spend most of his time reading and experimenting. Meanwhile, another inventor was on the rise waiting to take electricity to another level.

Nikola Tesla was born on July 10, 1856, in Smiljan, Croatia. His mother, Djuka Mandic, who invented small household appliances in her spare time, influenced Tesla’s interest in electrical invention. Tesla's father, Milutin Tesla, was a priest and a writer, and he pushed for his son to join the priesthood with him, but Tesla followed suit with his mother instead. He worked at the Central Telephone Exchange in Budapest. While in Budapest, the idea for the induction motor first came to Tesla, but after several years of trying to gain interest in his invention, Tesla decided to leave Europe for America.

Nikola Tesla updated the AC motor that Edison built However, the Wizard of Menlo Park, a firm supporter of DC, said the AC had no future ahead of itself.
Tesla quit his job in 1885 and a few years later received a number of patents for his AC technology. In 1888, he sold his patents to industrialist George Westinghouse, whose Westinghouse Electric Company had quickly become an Edison competitor. Edison, not wanting to lose the royalties he was earning from his direct current patents, began a campaign to discredit alternating current. He spread misinformation saying that alternating current was more dangerous, even going so far as to publicly electrocute stray animals using alternating current to prove his point. “If he had a needle to find in a haystack he would not stop to reason where it was most likely to be, but would proceed at once, with the feverish diligence of a bee, to examine straw after straw until he found the object of his search. ... I was almost a sorry witness of such doings, knowing that a little theory and calculation would have saved him ninety per cent of his labor."(New York Times). Tesla eventually raised enough money to produced the Tesla Electric Light Company, where he developed several successful patents including AC generators, wires, transformers, lights, and a 100 horsepower AC motor. Always more of a visionary than a businessman, Tesla ended up selling most of his patents. Edison promised him $50,000 if he succeeded. Tesla worked around the
clock for several months and made a great deal of progress. When he demanded his reward, Edison claimed the offer was a joke, saying, “When you become a full-fledged American, you will appreciate an American joke.” Edison offered a $10/week raise, instead. Tesla quit and went around the city trying to find a new job.
Edison was preoccupied with a better society and better innovations for the business world and our economy.
There are many things Edison left society that will remain a part of his legacy. His invention of the light bulb, phonograph, microphone, and many other things earned him the credit of societies all over the world. There are many different institutions, universities, hospitals, and so many other places that all hold the name Edison in some way. This is all over the world too. Tesla also made his name known around the world, he has a car company named after his last name. He gave the world its system for directing alternating current and developed the use of radio. Tesla also invented an energy weapon, created lightning. He and Edison are not just brilliant inventors during any time period, they changed the way the world sees everything and the world should thank them for what they left
behind.