Thomas Edison

dcfaithful

What a marvelous man. I learned (even more than I already knew) about him in my beginning audio production class last night at school. I already knew what the grammophone was, but we watched a video last night of some park rangers at Edison's laboratory (now a National Historic Park) in Edison, NJ demonstrating to a crowd how it recorded music, and then played it back. It was fascinating, especially considering when he invented the machine.

I hold such a high level of respect for Edison as an inventor as he is responsible for media inventions that have since influenced life tremendously around the world. Not to mention, the lightbulb which is undoubtedly one of the most important and significant inventions ever.

The more I read about this guy, the more blown away I am by his achievements and his innovative nature. No question he's one of the most important people to have lived.

I also love this quote, found on the Wikipedia page for him: "Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration."

Thank you, Mr. Edison... for your invaluable inventions, ideas, and life.

PureandEasy

As my co-worker Mike always says, thank God for people like that, because we’re certainly not capable of creating something that changes life as we know it.

Like engineers who design bridges, etc.

We crack up every time. It’s a little joke between us.

Slap upside the head

not bad for a high school dropout.

dcfaithful

This thread is apparently too nerdy to survive. :geek:

JOEJOEJOE

dcfaithful wrote:

This thread is apparently too nerdy to survive. :geek:

you should have titled it "PJ Vinyl is playable because...."

dcfaithful

JOEJOEJOE wrote:

dcfaithful wrote:

This thread is apparently too nerdy to survive. :geek:

you should have titled it "PJ Vinyl is playable because...."

Good call, this thread surely would be blowing up by now.

fuck

Edison doesn't know shit. Tesla's the man. And I don't say that just because David Bowie played him in The Prestige.

dcfaithful

fuck wrote:

Edison doesn't know shit. Tesla's the man. And I don't say that just because David Bowie played him in The Prestige.

Well fuck, fuck.

Color me ignorant, I am just now learning about Tesla.

hedonist

Good thread!

And yes, Tesla rocked.

Franklin too

tvismyfriend

dcfaithful wrote:

fuck wrote:

Edison doesn't know shit. Tesla's the man. And I don't say that just because David Bowie played him in The Prestige.

Well fuck, fuck.

Color me ignorant, I am just now learning about Tesla.

Yeah, Edison was a bit of a bastard. Definitely my kind of a guy.

adam42381

Thomas Edison had a winter home here and there are many in this area who despise him. Apparently he stole most of his ideas and wasn't a great inventor himself. He was a great businessman who hired smart people then took the credit for their inventions because they were made while working for him. From everything I've read, Edison was a bit of a fraud who manipulated and stole from those around him. Nikola Tesla is the guy we should be looking up to as the greatest inventor of that time period.

SatansFuton

adam42381 wrote:

Thomas Edison had a winter home here and there are many in this area who despise him. Apparently he stole most of his ideas and wasn't a great inventor himself. He was a great businessman who hired smart people then took the credit for their inventions because they were made while working for him. From everything I've read, Edison was a bit of a fraud who manipulated and stole from those around him. Nikola Tesla is the guy we should be looking up to as the greatest inventor of that time period.

I saw a show on the History Channel about the rivalry between Edison and Tesla (although it seemed like Edison was the only one who felt it was a rivalry) that painted Edison very unfavorably. It seemed, according to this show, that Edison's goal in life was just to try and cock block Tesla at every turn and try to bankrupt and ruin the guy.

Although, this was the History Channel, so you can't believe all of it. There are shows on the History Channel that also claim Tesla was an alien, that he invented a way to speak with aliens and got all of his information, or on the milder side, that he was murdered by the government.

voidofman

Edison used "Tesla's Alternating Current" to electrocute an elephant (that had apparently killed a few people) to prove how unsafe Tesla's current was.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr6xBz-h99U

Now sure how true it is but the game Assassin's Creed paints Edison as a Templar Knight. Which would explain why he got a bigger push with his DC so that it could be regulated and have a price put on it. Where as Tesla's AC would be free for all.

adam42381

SatansFuton wrote:

adam42381 wrote:

Thomas Edison had a winter home here and there are many in this area who despise him. Apparently he stole most of his ideas and wasn't a great inventor himself. He was a great businessman who hired smart people then took the credit for their inventions because they were made while working for him. From everything I've read, Edison was a bit of a fraud who manipulated and stole from those around him. Nikola Tesla is the guy we should be looking up to as the greatest inventor of that time period.

I saw a show on the History Channel about the rivalry between Edison and Tesla (although it seemed like Edison was the only one who felt it was a rivalry) that painted Edison very unfavorably. It seemed, according to this show, that Edison's goal in life was just to try and cock block Tesla at every turn and try to bankrupt and ruin the guy.

Although, this was the History Channel, so you can't believe all of it. There are shows on the History Channel that also claim Tesla was an alien, that he invented a way to speak with aliens and got all of his information, or on the milder side, that he was murdered by the government.

The rift between Tesla and Edison stemmed from an agreement that was made between the two regarding compensation for improving upon Edison's direct current motors when Tesla was employed by Edison. Edison promised Tesla that he would give him $50,000 if he could greatly improve his designs. Tesla worked hard and came up with numerous improvements which thrilled Edison. Edison refused to pay him despite the results, basically telling Tesla that he was only joking when he made the promise. Tesla then quit and the rivalry became heated after that point.