Tesla was a great man.
The cars from the manufacturer that appropriated his name look great, but that have this unnerving tendency to
spontaneously combust. ;-P
To accentuate how many of Nikola's ideas were considered to be of
extreme importance to the gov't how many people you know of that upon their death have this happen?
"P. E. Foxworth, assistant director of the New York FBI office, was called in to investigate. According to Foxworth, the government was "vitally interested" in preserving Tesla's papers. Two days after Tesla's death, representatives of the Office of Alien Property went to his room at the New Yorker Hotel and seized all his possessions." <from the link above>
Gov'ts notice little things like AC's ability to be transmitted 100's of miles w/ minor loses contributing to the growth of technology and the standard of living. They consider that to be paradigm shifting and when the dude who made that possible is constantly bragging about plans for remote controlled boats, electric cars, death rays, broadcast power, etc. that he hasn't released to the public (patent office) yet they also consider it to be good policy to make sure that it doesn't "fall into the wrong hands".
This is what fuels debate about "conspiracies" like HAARP employing Tesla resonance methods to cause earthquakes and weather modification.
As to Tesla > Edison.
Amen.
Edison was a smart business man and a very good technician and through rigorous trial and error brought us the electric light and the Edison Nickel-Iron battery that still doesn't have any contenders for longevity, but innovating genius he was not.
Look at his plan to distribute DC power.
I do think I remember something about Tesla working in Edison's facility early in his career but I won't swear to it.
Tesla was that innovating genius that had absolutely no business sense nor interest in it. He'd sell his latest proven theory completely to someone for the money to develop his next.
This practice contributed to making J. P. Morgan the (larger) monster it is today.
It's historical fact through quotes and letters that he and Mark Twain were very good friends and it's well known Samuel Clemens "
weren't known for havin' no truck wi' fools".
Edited to fix dead links.
