07/20/2023
Tesla Speaks Out Against Thomas Edison
"Edison and his associates bitterly opposed the introduction of my system, raising a clamor against the “deadliness” of the alternating current, which proved very effective and led to the adoption of a commercial type of machine in electrocution of criminals, an apparatus monstrously unsuitable, for the poor wretches are not despatched in a merciful manner but literally roasted alive. To the observer their sufferings seem to be of short duration; it must be borne in mind, though, that an individual under such conditions, while wholly bereft of the consciousness of the lapse of time, retains a keen sense of pain, and a minute of agony is equivalent to that through all eternity.
"Had the Edison companies not finally adopted my invention they would have been wiped out of existence, and yet not the slightest acknowledgment of my labors has ever been made by any of them, a most remarkable instance of the proverbial unfairness and ingratitude of corporations. But the reason is not far to see. One of their prominent men told me that they are spending $10,000,000 every year to keep Edison’s name before the public, and he added that it is worth more to them. Of course, in all that unceasing and deafening shouting from the housetops any voice raised to apprise people of the real state of things is like the chirp of a little sparrow in the roar of Niagara. So it comes that very few have a clear idea of the situation.
"In truth, my system has not only provided energy for all purposes throughout the world but also revolutionized electric lighting and made it a great commercial success by reducing the cost of power and increasing enormously the distance of transmission. The greater part of the $60,000,000,000 which, according to President Hewer’s statement, represented the value of electric business, can be traced to my system and its effect on the lighting and other industries. In view of this I feel that I also have done much to dispel darkness. Surely, my system is more important than the incandescent lamp, which is but one of the known electric illuminating devices and admittedly not the best. Although greatly improved through chemical and metallurgical advances and skill of artisans it is still inefficient, and the glaring filament emits hurtful rays responsible for millions of bald heads and spoiled eyes. In my opinion, it will soon be superseded by the electrodeless vacuum tube which I brought out thirty-eight years ago, a lamp much more economical and yielding a light of indescribable beauty and softness. The technical resources of that time were inadequate to make it a practical success, but most of the difficulties will be overcome when cheap quartz glass becomes available.
"No amount of praise is too much to bestow upon Edison for his vigorous pioneer work, but all he did was wrought in known and passing forms. What I contributed constitutes a new and lasting addition to human knowledge. Like his lamp, my induction motor may be discarded and forgotten in the continuous evolution of the arts, but my rotating field with its marvelous phenomena and manifestations of force will live as long as science itself."
–NIKOLA TESLA
New York, Nov. 5
(NEW YORK WORLD. Nov. 29, 1929, p. 10, cols. 4,5.)
Dr. Nikola Tesla
