Einstein vs Tesla

[Comandante]

ok people, let me tell you this; Tesla and Einstein, in my opinion, have been the two most successful physicist of the 20th century.

 

The problem is that Tesla didn't get what he deserved, while Einstein's name lived out to be the most popular name of the 20th Century (and if I've been informed accurately Tesla is not mentioned much in US school textbooks nor Australian or UK textbooks and most of the students wouldn't have idea of who the hell Nikola Tesla is - and probably many who are reading this thread would've asked themselves the same question). Well, I'm using Einstein just for a comparison in this thread, the main character here is Nikola Tesla.

 

Let's just have a look at some of his main inventions:

 

- AC Motor

- Tesla Coil

- Radio

- Remote Control

- Improved Lighting

 

and not to mention many of his secret experiments which were never finished and many of his papers which he kept in a locked safe and which have been preserved by the FBI on the same day he died... wonder what U.S. Govt did with the papers? (some of it was returned to Tesla Museum in Belgrade but certainly not all of it)

 

I would also like to mention that Tesla has been offered a Noble Prize to share with Edison which he rejected for a well-known reason, and here is a piece of the story:

 

"...Tesla was hired by the French branch of the Edison Company and assigned the job of repairing an electrical plant in Strassburg. Upon completion of the repairs, however, the Edison Company refused to pay the money it had promised. Tesla quit, and set his hopes on obtaining work in America. Strangely enough, once in America, he went to work for Edison. After promising $50,000 to Tesla if he would improve DC motors, Edison reneged on his word, dismissing the promise as "American humor." Tesla was furious and quit immediately. Unfortunately, Tesla was not able to find other work, so he was forced to dig ditches for two years. ..."

 

Like Einstein(with his quest for unification theory), Tesla had a quest to develop a device which would transfer power wirelessly. Here is a piece from pbs.org:

 

"...There are some reports that he did transmit a signal several miles powerful enough to illuminate vacuum tubes planted in the ground. But this can be attributed to conductive properties in the ground at Colorado Springs.

 

Another approach pursued by Tesla was to transmit extra-low-frequency signals through the space between the surface of the earth and the ionosphere. Tesla calculated that the resonant frequency of this area was approximately 8-hertz. It was not until the 1950s that this idea was taken seriously and researchers were surprised to discover that the resonant frequency of this space was indeed in the range of 8-hertz.

 

A third approach for wireless power transmission was to transmit electrical power to the area 80-kilometers above the earth known as the ionosphere. Tesla speculated that his region of the atmosphere would be highly conductive and again his suspicions were correct. What he needed was the technical means to send electrical power to such a high altitude.

 

One night in his laboratory, Tesla noticed a repeating signal being picked-up by his transmitter. To his own amazement, he believed that he was receiving a signal from outer space. Tesla was widely ridiculed when he announced this discovery, but it is possible that he was the first man to detect radio waves from space.

 

A great deal of mystery still surrounds Tesla's work at Colorado Springs. It is not clear from his notes or his comments exactly how he intended to transmit wireless power. But it is clear that he returned back to New York City fully convinced that he could accomplish it. ..."

 

 

There is much more to say about this great Yugoslav physicist but I'll leave it for later... and if I used some sort of "best physicist scale" this is how it would look like:

Einstein 5000 points

Tesla 4990 p

Edison 3500 p

(remember - this ranking list is just my personal opinion)

 

most importantly;

let me know what you think...

 

ps. sorry for putting it in relativity section, seemed like the most appropriate place

[[Tycho?]]

Uhhh huh. Why is it Tesla is the center of so many conspiracy theories? Einstien is the most famous physicist of the 20th century, and he's only in a couple.

 

Ok, Einstien was far more important than Tesla. His papers on Brownian motion and the photoelectric effect alone were very important, but his real accomplishment was Special and General Relativity, which replaced newtons theory of gravitation and allowed for the understanding of the universe on a large scale.

 

I'm pretty sure Tesla did not invent the radio, and I dont know what "Improved lightning" would actually be. How do you improve a natural phenonemon?

 

And if you rank Tessa so highly, what about other physicsts? What about Bohr, Schrodenger, Hiesenburg, Plank? These physicts were hugely important, I would be curious as to how you would rate them.

[Lance]

 

The problem is that Tesla didn't get what he deserved' date=' while Einstein's name lived out to be the most popular name of the 20th Century (and if I've been informed accurately Tesla is not mentioned much in US school textbooks nor Australian or UK textbooks and most of the students wouldn't have idea of who the hell Nikola Tesla is - and probably many who are reading this thread would've asked themselves the same question). Well, I'm using Einstein just for a comparison in this thread, the main character here is Nikola Tesla.

[/quote']

 

Whats really sad about this is that Edison is practically worshiped the the US school system. Every 5th grader you ask would say he has at LEAST heard the name.

[Phi for All]

I've always been intrigued by how much of Tesla's work was suppressed. What if he had discovered practically no-cost power and it was squashed by those who wanted to profit?

 

Btw, next time provide a link to your sources so others can share. You weren't plagiarizing since you left in the quotation marks but it's just good form to let everyone know who you're quoting. PBS: Tesla, Master of Lightning Also, I'll let a more knowledgeable Mod decide if the thread should be moved from Relativity or not.

 

Do you have any more good Tesla info?

[Lance]

'']Uhhh huh. Why is it Tesla is the center of so many conspiracy theories? Einstien is the most famous physicist of the 20th century, and he's only in a couple.

 

I don't really see why this is relevant but Tesla is the center of many conspiracies because when he died he had a bunch of papers stolen. He also had a lot of ideas that where considered ahead of his time and he was ridiculed because of this

 

'']Ok, Einstien was far more important than Tesla. His papers on Brownian motion and the photoelectric effect alone were very important, but his real accomplishment was Special and General Relativity, which replaced newtons theory of gravitation and allowed for the understanding of the universe on a large scale.

 

Completely your opinion.

 

'']I'm pretty sure Tesla did not invent the radio,

 

Wrong.

[JaKiri]

Einstein vs Tesla, on PPV this weekend.

[5614]

i think for the average john smith tesla has made a bigger difference to his life, although to physics overall, whilst tesla's work was amazing, einstein's has changed the whole basis of physics, i think it'd be more important to physics.

[JaKiri]

i think for the average john smith tesla has made a bigger difference to his life

 

The Atom Bomb.

 

Although, if we're going for the 'influential scientist' award, the winner would probably have to be Fritz Haber.

[5614]

The Atom Bomb.

 

maybe, but if you think tesla made the radio, that was used in WW2 a lot too, with out radios and lighting (search lights in UK etc) WW2 could have been quite different.

 

tesla inventions: [copied from above]

- AC Motor

- Tesla Coil

- Radio

- Remote Control

- Improved Lightning

[JaKiri]

Improved lightning? What?

 

(Radio is obviously the 'big' one of those)

[Lance]

Improved lightning? What?

 

(Radio is obviously the 'big' one of those)

 

 

I'm guessing he meant lighting.

[5614]

Improved lightning? What?

 

i dont know! i just copied it from the original post! (+ what lance said!)

[ed84c]

i think for the average john smith tesla has made a bigger difference to his life, although to physics overall, whilst tesla's work was amazing, einstein's has changed the whole basis of physics, i think it'd be more important to physics.

 

Not true, you say things like 'improved lighting', and 'AC motor' but really these are just improvements on previous inventions by Joseph Swann, and Micheal Faraday, respecivley.

 

Einstein was one of the forefathers of Quantum mechanics, without that we wouldnt have;

 

LEDs

Transistors

Other Discrete semi conductors.

 

Therefore without Einstein, it would not take a huge leap in thought to realise the chances of us having Computers, would certainly be cut down, and I personally believe a computer has more relevance in today's world than a longer lasting light bulb, wouldnt you agree?

[Phi for All]

Improved lightning? What?

From the above PBS link:

 

The laboratory that rose from the prairie floor was both wired and weird, a contraption with a roof that rolled back to prevent it from catching fire, and a wooden tower that soared up eighty feet. Above it was a 142-foot metal mast supporting a large copper ball. Inside the strange wooden structure, technicians began to assemble an enormous Tesla coil, specially designed to send powerful electrical impulses into the earth.

 

On the evening of the experiment, each piece of equipment was first carefully checked. Then Tesla alerted his mechanic, Czito, to open the switch for only one second. The secondary coil began to sparkle and crack and an eerie blue corona formed in the air around it. Satisfied with the result, Tesla ordered Czito to close the switch until told to cease. Huge arcs of blue electricity snaked up and down the center coil. Bolts of man-made lightning more than a hundred feet in length shot out from the mast atop the station. Tesla's experiment burned out the dynamo at the El Paso Electric Company and the entire city lost power. The power station manager was livid, and insisted that Tesla pay for and repair the damage.

 

 

I'm guessing this is what is meant by "improved lightning".

[JaKiri]

That's the tesla coil, surely?

[5614]

... that sounds so cool!

 

ed84c, yeah i spose in that respec einstien was important too, face it, they are all important and each in their own way, its hard to say who's more important.

[Comandante]

oh, sorry, I meant, of course, Improved Lighting, just a typo error, I've corrected it (there are few other typing errs... but this one was crucial) and here is what I meant by "Improved Lighting" : http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ins/lab_imlight.html (this is the pbs website, you can find pretty much info about Tesla there BUT not all of it for sure) There are extra links for you to read at the end of this post...

 

ok, Einstein's was great, I'm not saying he wasn't, but what I'm trying to say here is that amongst all other physicists of the 20th century, in my opinion, Tesla was the only one whom I would give the same respect as to Einstein. The reason I rank them in the same sort of category is that they were the only 2 true "mad" physicists/scientists who worked with some super-cool-amazing ideas and trying to somehow bring those to life. If there are others who dealt with such ideas please let me know. It might be that I just missed some other great scientists.

 

As for Edison, he used to try to come up with solutions by brute-forcing his ideas - and that's something I don't like - inefficient and could've been done by many and not only him. It still counts - greatly - towards physics and life applications, but for me, it's just not original so to say.

 

ed84c, AC motors before Tesla were only pure guesses and experiments and nobody really knew how to make a stable AC motor - how to get it to work, even though they had some basic idea they just couldn't get it completed. And Tesla didnt' "improve" those inventions because they were basically never invented in the first place, there were just some ideas and speculations and a proof that it could be done... Tesla however came up with new, better ideas and so invented a first stable AC motor. After that, in the next 2 years, he developed various modifications of his invention which in turn launched electrical age of heavy industry.

 

[Tycho?] mentioned consipracy theories. The major conspiracy theory and a supposedly fictional story which involves Tesla, Einstein and some other physicists is a so called "Philadephia Experiment" which was performed by US Navy in 1943. I've read some claims that at the time of the experiment Tesla was one of the attendants and it didnt' involve Einstein at all, while in some other they said that the experiment was performed by US Navy using the documents which were taken from Tesla's safe and which were used by Einstein himself. I've read numerous stories about Philadelphia Experiment and in my conclusion I believe that this is what happened:

 

On January 7, 1943 Tesla died. "They" came on Jan 9th, took the documents, and went away. It took them 1 month to translate Tesla's "english" handwriting, and here is a quote from official FBI papers (image file from pbs.org(they took it from fbi.gov) so I'll retype):

 

"... After Tesla's death, scientists from from the navy and OSS performed a cursory examination of the diary and notes, which if my memory serves me correctly, was one month long, hardly enough time to decipher Tesla's torturous handwriting. Though Tesla wrote in English, his penmanship was small, blurred, and as difficult to translate as foreign language. ..." original: http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/fbi_04.html

 

After they found schematics of Tesla's work on magnetism and electricity they decided to test it on a US Navy ship. There was no Einstein or Tesla at the time it happened but I believe that something did happen there, not quite sure what. Well, it's gone too far to fiction now and I'll leave it there...

 

Also to mention that Tesla had many friends in US and other countries, Tesla received congratulatory letters from more than 70 pioneers in science and engineering including Albert Einstein and Mark Twain. These letters were mounted and presented to Tesla in the form of a testimonial volume.

 

Today the Nikola Tesla Award is one of the most distinguished honors presented by the Institute of Electrical Engineers. The award has been given annually since 1976.

 

I'd like to ask the moderators not to remove the thread from "Relativity" section, it is associated with Einstein and since he's the one responsible for relativity leave it as is, also this section seemed like a "20th century physicists" so I put it here

 

Here are extra links for you to read about Tesla:

probably the best link here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla

biography: http://tntn.essortment.com/nikolateslaalt_myf.htm

 

here are a few links to Philadelphia experiment for those interested:

philadelphia ex: http://skepdic.com/philadel.html

chat with researcher Marshall Barnes: http://users.cihost.com/ata/chat.htm

navy response: http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq21-1.htm

[Guest daveed]

...there were a lot more important scientists this past 100 years than just tesla and einstein...

[Guest daveed]

personally, i think feynman, bohr, and bethe kick plenty of ass

[Lance]

... that sounds so cool!

 

I thought you were planning on building a tesla coil? Its not hard.

[mtong]

I do agree that Tesla dose not get the recognition he deserves.....most people have not even heard of him.

[Comandante]

personally, i think feynman, bohr, and bethe kick plenty of ass

 

true, many others too...

 

but they still can't be put on the same scale as those two I mentioned earlier... at least not for me...

[TheoryOfTime]

He deserves more recognization yes, his theories were quite interesting. Although I do like Einstein more, Tesla did have some very interesting theories, and maybe his ideas were no so absurd as they are portrayed to be. Only the future can tell however.

[Guest axol]

Here's what some Nobel Prize winners (including Bohr and Einstein) have had to say about Tesla...

 

Niels Bohr: "With deepest admiration we think of how Tesla could accomplish such great achievements."

 

Ernest Rutherford: "... all scientific men will be delighted to extend their warmest congratulations to Tesla and to express their appreciation of his great contributions to science."

 

Albert Einstein: "Tesla is an eminent pioneer in the realm of high frequency currents... I congratulate him on the great successes of his life's work."

 

W.H. Bragg: "Dr. Tesla's experiments were the most original and daring... I shall never forget."

 

Arthur Holly Compton: "Tesla is entitled to the enduring gratitude of mankind."

 

Robert A. Millikan: "I am sending Dr. Tesla... my gratitude and my respect in overflowing measure."

[Scmazter]

[Tycho?] mentioned consipracy theories. The major conspiracy theory and a supposedly fictional story which involves Tesla' date=' Einstein and some other physicists is a so called "Philadephia Experiment" which was performed by US Navy in 1943. I've read some claims that at the time of the experiment Tesla was one of the attendants and it didnt' involve Einstein at all, while in some other they said that the experiment was performed by US Navy using the documents which were taken from Tesla's safe and which were used

by Einstein himself. [/quote']

 

Hey.

 

Sorry If I'm intruding on this thread, but I have lately been doing a lot of research on the Philadelphia Experiment, and the story I have got in my mind is....

 

The Navy employed a couple of Scientists, the head of whom was Nikola Telsa. They used Einstein's Unified Field Theory to modify a vessel to make it capable of invisibility.

 

What I have come to believe (also told by one of the surviving scientists on board), is that Telsa was working closely with this experiment, however after a test run using animals on the ship, when the experiment when horribly wrong, and the navy wanted to do it with humans, Telsa immidiately quit, predicting the consequences would be disasterous.

Later, allegedly, he was murdered buy the Navy or something....I can't remember THAT part.