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Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: Understanding How Progress Happens and Creating a Culture of Creativity
Manifesting Ideas Into Reality From Florentine Bottegas to Studios, Labs and R&D
Image of ‘Tony Stark’ in the Iron Man (2008), by Marvel
Next to a roaring furnace, a tall and muscular man is hard at work. His face is sweaty and his brow is furrowed in concentration as he pounds hot metal pulled out of his forge with large tongs. Sparks fly off the metal that glows bright orange and fiery red. Occasionally, a spark will touch his skin, but he does not flinch. Every muscle in his arms is put to work. With precision, he warms wrought iron pieces to almost a white heat and then hammers them together, welding them fast into one indistinguishable piece. Again and again, he repeats the process until he has fifty matching railings, all exquisite in their design and craftsmanship. As he lays each final piece down on a rack to cool, the blacksmith however, shakes his head, unsatisfied. Each piece, the same in length, has a slightly different weight. The hours pass by as he labor away, and finally produces a batch of final implements that meet his discerning eye.
Image via StatueCrafts
Supreme craftsmanship in creating powerful yet exquisite tools defined the blacksmith of old. It was no wonder that around such skill and talent, myths and legends sprouted in abundance. Heralded as the artisan of the gods in Greek and Roman mythology, Hephaestus was a blacksmith whose forge was a volcano. In Germanic myths, Völundr was a heroic blacksmith who forged gorgeous gold rings inlaid with sparkling gems. Captured by a cruel king and sequestered on an island, Völundr exacted his revenge by killing the king’s sons, seducing his daughter and escaping on wings that he had forged. In ancient Japan, Masamune was a legendary blacksmith and swords with who not only constructed powerful weapons for samurais, but also taught his students the ways of warfare.
In times of war, having experienced blacksmiths that could create forge-welded axes, chisels, knives and spears, was indispensable. The blacksmith’s trade was not only exquisite to behold, but was also essential for survival.
With just a few tools available to him, such as bronze and later wrought iron and steel, the blacksmith, toiling for hours in his studio next to a blazing fire of charcoal, produced powerful tools for both agriculture and warfare. Creating a consistent temperature that was hot enough to weld the metal pieces, required a precise hand. Everything he did was dependent upon his expertise and careful craftsmanship. Replicating his work was not an easy task. It would take several centuries before the medieval blacksmith’s elegant work could ever be duplicated.
With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, the creation of more sophisticated tools and the availability of a larger labor force, the blacksmith could now create tools and implements much faster and replicate his work more easily. A craft once defined by a sole individual, can now be shared with a team. He also benefits from the modern assembly line and the ability to automate some work processes. Henry Ford’s remarkable invention of the everyday consumer’s automobile, the model T, building upon the original car developed by Carl Benz and founder of Daimler AG, is almost eclipsed by his creation of the modern assembly line — a methodology that surpassed all previous manufacturing up till that point in time.
Image of ‘Tony Stark’ in the Iron Man (2008), by Marvel
The blacksmith of today is not limited by the same parameters of time or location. Modern advancements free him up to do what he loves best: to create. In many ways, he is right back at the drawing board, whether it is in his mind or conceptually laid out on paper or a computer screen, giving him the opportunity to create works that match his vision entirely.
Drawing Inspiration from Centuries of Craftsmanship
The word ‘create’ has long been associated with artisans, artistic endeavor and spiritual pursuits for eons. In terms of artisans, creating typically means building works of arts from scratch, that can be used for practical purposes such as pottery, wood frames and furniture. Artistic endeavor that does not fulfill a tangible, practical purpose, but an aesthetic one that inspires you, also falls under this description and is primarily attributed to works of art such as music, dance, sculpture and painting. In the Book of Genesis, in the Old Testament in the Bible, it says:
“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over the earth, and over ever creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’ So God created man is his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
Michelangelo, Creation scenes, Sistine Chapel Ceiling, 1508-12, fresco (Vatican City, Rome)
Creating is thus attributed to a divine act of God and thus a human being, when he or she creates, is thus imitating the will of God. During the height of the Renaissance movement in Europe, artistic creativity was at its peak. Artwork reflected a synthesis of these beliefs, with sculptures created idealistically to represent the best of humanity in the likeliness of God, while also revealing the artist’s hand.
Close up: Michelangelo, Delphic Sibyl, Sistine Chapel Ceiling, 1508-12, fresco (Vatican City, Rome)
Turning down one of Florence’s many winding streets today, you can see the descendants of ancient Etruscans who work with their hands to create individual works of art. The home of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, the city of Florence was once the heart of the Renaissance art movement. While Italy has changed dramatically, the Florentine bottega or workshop, even today reveals an atmosphere of passion and creativity, fueled by work by hand. These studios are often filled with ceramics, cameos, wood paintings and furniture today by amateur artists and antique restoration artists.
The difference today from our collective past is the opportunity at hand. The restrictions that previously limited creative growth are now lifted. An artist in Florence can continue to make wood paintings or sculptures in the tradition of old, while harnessing a new set of tools available through the web and via powerful software and computer systems.
Workshop of La Vecchia Faenza where artisans use techniques and patterns from the 15th century. Photo by Andrea Piffari, Collezione Maramotti, Italy
In the Last 150 Years: Accelerated Connectivity and Expanded Market Opportunities
In 1846, a twenty-seven year old man by the name of Elias Howe devised the first fully functioning sewing machine, available to the public. With that single invention, Howe revolutionized the clothing industry, giving birth to mass production of clothing quickly and lowering the barrier to entry. Later in 1884, after an embargo was imposed upon English clothing, Isaac M. Singer revised and produced the first electric sewing machine for personal use. A woman who used to make clothes for her family via the old-fashioned method of needle and thread and painstaking labor, could now set up her own shop and earn an income. The expansion of railroad lines all across the country, through the heartland, and into the frontier regions, offered larger opportunities where a tailor could ship goods from New York City to the West coast, thereby increasing market share substantially and earning a comfortable income.
One hundred and fifty years later, another invention would dramatically alter the course of human history, shaping social, cultural and economic dynamics. The personal computer, fully functional by 1976, changed the way people could communicate not only for work, but also for pleasure. The arrival and spreading of bandwidth on the Internet is akin to the expansion of the railroad, allowing the communication of information instantaneously. Just like the railroad enabled merchants to distribute clothing and other products to markets all over the country, dramatically increasing both market supply and demand with lower barriers to entry, bandwidth and wireless connectivity has enabled businesses to connect with consumers all over the world at a fraction of the previous cost, immediately. From a world of only tangible products with limited distribution, the economy has now evolved to where an individual located in a small town can reach a global audience.
The Gutenberg press for example, revolutionized the world of printing as monks no longer had to write out each word slowly through painstaking calligraphy. With the proliferation of presses, words could be reproduced in greater numbers and hence ideas of the world could be spread quickly, inexpensively and efficiently with greater larger areas of distribution and consistency. The Internet has further built upon and expanded upon these opportunities, enabling you to distribute your product or service beyond the confines of your town or city to national and international customers. The advent of such technologies, lowered barriers to entry and a seamless shortening of the innovation cycle, has enabled getting products and services out the door, faster than ever before.
“The central actor now is the consumer as the creator of his or her own world, and business better recognize that fast.”
A Need for Progress Studies and Pathways for Creativity
Looking at the course descriptions of university syllabi over the last twenty years, particularly in the last five years, you can see a remarkable difference. There is an increasing demand by students and changes made by younger faculty for courses that offer the ability to actually create. Only a few universities and colleges aim to answer this in any feasible way. Most formal education repeats the knowledge of the past, which is important to have. However, in order to understand how progress actually happens and how invention occurs, we need some methods of studying progress. How do we measure progress? How long does progress take? What accelerates progress? What holds progress back? What systems and practices exist today to nurture this?
Creativity is not something you can automate. However, we can nurture methods that foster creativity. What methods can be put together to encourage a culture of creativity and to facilitate the birth of new ideas? The importance of design-led culture and thus creativity through design, has gained traction in many high-performing companies. Patrick Collison, the founder of Stripe, a software infrastructure and payments company, and Tyler Cowen, an economics professor at George Mason University , examine this need for Progress Studies in this compelling article in The Atlantic.
What Does It Mean to Create Today?
In modern times, ‘to create’ means to bring something into existence. The word ‘create’ comes from the Latin verb creare, which means to produce. In Old English, the word create signifies forming out of nothing. What then does it mean to be a creator? A creator is thus someone who produces something new out of nothing. This can be anything — from traditional artistic media such as crafts, visual arts, music, poetry and architecture to a tangible or intangible (software for example) product or service or method of communication.
Creation of new ideas, technologies, systems and products have dramatically altered the way we communicate and work. They have radically improved our collective quality of life as human beings, as individuals and in relationship to one another. We build upon these strengths. We stand upon the shoulders of giants. We are free to pursue creative ideas because these inventions, systems and processes are available to us.
The 21st Century Makes Creation Easier, Faster and Builds Upon Centuries of Achievement
“Creators are in people in all of us whenever we go online.”
Over the last forty years, the Internet has spawned a global connectivity that has transformed the ways we do business, the ways we live and the ways we connect with each other. Each breakthrough has paved the way for new inventions and opportunities, big and small. Today we can harness sophisticated technology tools that alter our perceptions of time, location and connectivity. Many barriers to entry have also been lifted and as the innovation cycle shortens, it has become easier to take an idea from conception to execution than before. That does not deny the tremendous amount of effort required, but it does point to a change in how long it takes to execute an idea. The opportunity to engage in a global marketplace is unprecedented in its accessibility.
It took 100 years for electricity to be adopted by 60 million people worldwide. It took television thirteen years. It took Apple’s App Store just 13 months to reach that milestone. If the Industrial Revolution was transformative, consider how much the App economy has changed the world.
This is the opportunity inherent in today’s creator economy. This vast opportunity comes with its own challenges, but attracts individuals with ambition and a deep desire to create, whether it is on their own or with a company or a team united in purpose. Will you seize it?
Profile: Nikola Tesla, the Genius Who Lit the World
Tesla, the genius who lit the world, pioneered AC electrical design that still remains the global standard for transmitting electricity and was a prolific inventor with over 300 patents. Here we take a look at nine lessons we can learn from this talented and exceptional individual.
Born in 1856 in Smiljan, Croatia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American engineer and physicist whose remarkable inventions would transform the way the world produced, transmitted and used electricity. Tesla’s father was a priest in the Serbian Orthodox church while his mother managed the family’s farm and was an inventor in her own right of household appliances. In 1863, Tesla’s brother Daniel was killed in a riding accident, which deeply affected the seven-year-old Tesla who was haunted by nightmares and troubling apparitions for many years after.
Tesla went on to study math and physics at the Technical University of Graz as a young man and later, philosophy at the University of Prague. In 1882, at the age of 26, while working as an electrical engineer with a telephone company in Budapest, Tesla came up with an idea for a brushless alternating current (AC) motor. While out on a walk, Tesla envisioned the idea for a brushless AC motor, marking out the initial concept along the sandy path he was walking on. He then rushed back to his office and drew the first sketches of electromagnets that he could see in his mind’s eye. He decided to move to Paris and got employed repairing direct current (DC) power plants for the Continental Edison Company.
Tesla knew his concept had merit and felt that he needed to show it to Thomas Edison, the famous inventor and engineer known for popularizing the incandescent light bulb. Tesla moved to the United States two years later. Arriving in New York in 1884, he went straight to the Manhattan headquarters of Thomas Edison’s business. Tesla got a job there and worked diligently. He impressed Edison by his hard work and also his ingenuity.
Seeing his employee’s creativity, Edison wagered Tesla that if Tesla could improve the design for his DC dynamos, he would give him $50,000. Tesla followed through, coming up with an excellent solution and solving the problem after several months of hard work and experimentation. Edison however, refused to pay up. Tesla realized it was time to quit and went out on his own.
Things were not easy for him, but he persisted. Tesla did not have the gigantic support of wealthy financiers such as J.P. Morgan who was determined to dominate the energy industry through his support of Thomas Edison’s DC technology. Tesla continued to work and struggled to support himself. He was granted over 30 patents for his inventions in just 1887 and 1888. When he was invited to address the American Institute of Electrical Engineers on his work, Tesla gave a lecture that drew the interest of George Westinghouse, an entrepreneur and engineer, with whom Tesla would collaborate with extensively in the next few years.
“If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.”
Lesson 1: Invention often consists of improving on an existing idea
Invention often consists of improving on an existing idea and developing it in a focused way that leads to a tangible, useful result. Many of the inventions we attribute to one individual, are built upon the foundation of prior inventions and discoveries that made them possible. Inventions refine existing designs and prior work. They “stand upon the shoulders of giants” as Bernard of Chartres observed in the 12th century.
For example, the concept of alternating current was developed by the British physicist Michael Faraday. By 1832, the instrument maker Hippolyte Pixii from Paris, France, had built the first form of an alternating current electrical generator, using the principle of electromagnetic induction that Michael Faraday had discovered.
Tesla had studied alternating current (AC) in college and obtained an electrical engineering degree. Tesla’s great achievement lay in making an AC motor design that allowed the transmission of electrical energy along distribution lines in different directions in multiple ways, using the polyphase principle. Numerous contemporaries of Tesla had worked on methods of AC power distribution without any success.
When Tesla came up with the new AC design, his method challenged Edison’s existing electrical powerhouses that were built all along the Atlantic seaboard. Edison’s existing lamps that used direct current, were weak and inefficient. They also required high voltage levels to transmit across long distances, thus necessitating a direct current power station within every two miles!
Direct current flows in one direction continuously. This is useful for powering small devices like lamps and personal gadgets at home. However, this fails to work over long distances or for larger power supply needs. Alternating current changes direction 50-60 times per second and can be increased to high voltage levels without power loss while traversing long distances. The use of AC is clearly a better technology method for the transmission of power across long distances.
Alternating current became standard power in the twentieth century. Tesla’s inventions are in use in full force today. Electricity is generated, transmitted and converted to mechanical power by the methods that he invented. Tesla’s polyphase alternating current system, lights the entire world. This single, remarkable accomplishment literally changed the world!
Lesson 2: Visualize and Be Willing to Think and See Things Differently
Despite being a scientist and engineer, Tesla did not hesitate to look for higher inspiration beyond the quantifiable and physical. He relied upon his own powers of visualization and intuition. He valued his intuition and recognized its ability beyond logical deduction. Tesla took time to introspect, to pray and visualize daily.
“The gift of mental power comes from God, Divine Being, and if we concentrate our minds on that truth, we become in tune with this great power.”
Tesla knew that so much of the universe lies beyond our current knowledge and methods.
“The day science begins to study non-physical phenomena, it will make more progress in one decade than in all the previous centuries of its existence.”
He took the time to fully visualize ideas before working on them. Invention is a creative process. Invention involves creating in physical reality something which has only been dreamed of before.
“My method is different. I do not rush into actual work. When I get an idea, I start at once building it up in my imagination. I change the construction, make improvements, and operate the device entirely in my mind.”
Lesson 3: Demonstrate Your Work in a Way That Inspires and Engages People
Tesla had a penchant for the dramatic. Along with Westinghouse, Tesla lit up the Chicago Fair in 1893 with AC-powered electric lights, demonstrating irrevocably the magnificent power of electricity to visitors. It was a demonstration unlike anything else before it. At the time, streets were often dark and dimly lit at best at night. The spectacle of a brightly lit promenade, illuminating all buildings in the vicinity simultaneously, was amazing to behold.
Tesla helped illuminate more light bulbs at the Chicago Fair than available in the entire city of Chicago at the time. He also demonstrated an electric light that did not need any wires. His dazzling light display won people over instantly and also helped Tesla and Westinghouse to secure a government contract to generate electrical power at Niagara Falls at $150,000, besting the competition led by Edison and J.P. Morgan. Tesla and Westinghouse would go on to build the first large-scale AC power plant in the world.
AC electric lights lit up the night at the Chicago World’s Fair
Publicity photo of Nikola Tesla in his laboratory in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in December 1899. Tesla posed with his “magnifying transmitter,” which was capable of producing millions of volts of electricity. The discharge shown is 6.7 meters (22 feet) in length.
Lesson 4: Experiment
You have to experiment to discover new ways of doing things and to test out your ideas. Tesla conducted experiments constantly. In the 1890s, through his experiments, Tesla invented electric oscillators, meters, a high voltage transformer called the Tesla coil and more. He improved artificial lighting, experimented with X-rays and helped design remote control devices, wireless methods of communication and the radio.
When you experiment, you discover how to do things well. Along the way, you will make a lot of errors. Some ideas will be suitable to develop further, while others may be abandoned. With over 300 patents, Tesla invented and designed countless innovations that we use today. He pioneered the design of several technologies that power and light the world today such as alternating current (AC), electric induction motor, fluorescent bulbs and neon bulbs.
Here are just four of Tesla’s inventions - all breakthroughs!
Rotating Magnetic Field (1882): When a professor in Croatia told Tesla that it was impossible to create an AC-powered motor, Tesla was intrigued. He was confident that was not true and decided to figure out how to make one. He thought about it, going over ideas in his mind for two years. Then one day, the solution came to him when he was taking a walk. He realized that a rotating magnetic field would allow alternating current (AC) to power an engine before being converted to direct current (DC).
AC Motor (1883): Tesla retained these detailed plans for his AC motor in his mind without any written plans until he could build a physical model the following year. Tesla designed a new AC motor model. The alternating current created magnetic poles that reversed themselves on their own, without mechanical assistance like DC motors needed. The flowing AC current also made the armature, the revolving part of any electromechanical device, rotate around the motor, thus creating a rotating magnetic field that could be used as a motor. Tesla’s method of delivering power to residences and businesses via AC current overtook the ineffective DC power system promoted by his former employer, Thomas Edison. Today we receive AC power in our homes. Tesla’s method is still the primary method of powering electricity all over the world today.
Tesla coil (1891): The Tesla coil named after its inventor, used polyphase alternating currents to create a transformer that could produce high voltages with electric flames and crackling sparks. Today the Tesla coil is widely used for radio and television sets and for large electronic equipment.
Radio (1897): Tesla invented the antennas, tuners and many other aspects associated with radio, but unfortunately, his lab burned down in 1895, forcing him to restart and another inventor, Guglielmo Marconi supported by J.P. Morgan, was given actual credit for the wireless radio. In 1943, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Tesla's patent had precedence but by that time, the world already had credited Marconi as the father of radio.
Image via Bettman, Getty Images
Photo of Mark Twain, a good friend of Nikola Tesla, holding Tesla’s experimental vacuum lamp in 1894
Lesson 5: Protect Your Work
This lesson - a tough one for Tesla and one by omission - is to protect your work. Tesla, as we have shown partially here, was remarkably creative. He was undoubtedly inventive and a genius.
To be clear, an inventor’s job is to invent. It is not to be a marketer or a banker. Having those skills undoubtedly helps in pushing forward an idea or enterprise. Tesla was demonstrative and expressive, winning over audiences with his dramatic electrical displays and showing how his inventions worked.
Like many inventors, he was most interested in seeing his ideas come to fruition. He was focused on creating and building out his ideas. His name belongs among all the pioneers who spurred on electrical innovation. He was also generous.
Tesla’s innovations came at a time when the American landscape was dominated by a few major players, one of whom was J.P. Morgan. Morgan supported Thomas Edison’s work and had invested significantly in DC power. He was ruthless and determined to dominate industries and squash any competition.
Morgan demanded that Edison find a way to stop Tesla. At first, Edison tried to shoot down Tesla’s ideas as improbable. Then when Tesla won the support of industrialist George Westinghouse and began developing his AC motor fully and doing public demonstrations, Edison began an extensive smear campaign.
Tesla’s AC design work was supported by George Westinghouse, who had already invested in similar research with employees without success prior to Westinghouse hiring Tesla. Westinghouse financed the building of Tesla’s new AC motor and also his polyphase alternating current system. Westinghouse bought Tesla’s patents in return for a substantial royalty payment.
In 1893, Tesla successfully demonstrated his new technology at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, also called the Chicago Fair. He helped Westinghouse secure the government contract to design a new power station at Niagara Falls. Tesla designed the world’s first major hydroelectric plant for Westinghouse. With these two successes behind them, Westinghouse and Tesla were on route to becoming very wealthy. The government and the public supported their AC design.
J.P. Morgan was furious. He had also bid on the contract with Edison and lost out. He threatened to bankrupt Westinghouse. To help free Westinghouse, Tesla tore up his royalty contract, enabling Westinghouse to sell Tesla’s patents to J.P. Morgan. Tesla helped save Westinghouse from financial ruin, but lost the financial rewards of his own invention - something that would have made him one of the wealthiest men in the world.
In efforts to further discredit Tesla, J.P. Morgan and his supporters called Tesla a “dreamer” and incapable of commercializing his inventions. Dreaming though is a necessity when it comes to invention! An inventor is not a banker, a publicist, a marketing executive, an account representative or even a manufacturer. Despite all his influence, J.P. Morgan, did not have the skills or ability to invent like Tesla did, nor did the man that he hired, Thomas Edison.
“I don’t care they stole my idea. I care they don’t have any of their own.”
Sadly, while J.P. Morgan and Edison reaped the benefits of Tesla’s AC design, Tesla struggled financially to even support himself. Hence a lesson you can learn from his life is to protect your work. What’s easy to an inventor is not easy for the business magnate, financier or marketing executive. Protect your work so that you can support yourself, reap the benefits of your work and be free to keep creating.
Tesla featured on the cover of Time magazine on his 75th birthday
Lesson 6: Be Patient
“That is the trouble with many inventors; they lack patience. They lack the willingness to work a thing out slowly and clearly and sharply in their mind so that they can actually ‘feel it work.’ They want to try their first idea right off; and the result is they use up lots of money and lots of good material, only to find eventually that they are working in the wrong direction. We all make mistakes, and it is better to make them before we begin.”
Tesla understood, better than most, the value of patience as an inventor. He persisted and worked on his ideas for weeks, months and years at a time.
Lesson 7: Be Future-Oriented
While Tesla was often misunderstood, he did not let that deter his passion for pursuing his ideas or creating his inventions. He knew that people would often not accept his ideas, and that he had to be okay with that and keep going forward. Tesla thought at an accelerated rate. That was not something he ever needed to apologize for. At the same time, he was okay with accepting that he was alone and that many of his ideas were ahead of their time.
“Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I have really worked, is mine.”
Lesson 8: Know Yourself
“From childhood I was compelled to concentrate attention upon myself. This caused me much suffering, but to my present view, it was a blessing in disguise for it has taught me to appreciate the inestimable value of introspection in the preservation of life, as well as a means of achievement.”
It is important to have self-awareness and to take time for reflecting on yourself, your strengths and your weaknesses so that you can fully achieve your goals.
“When natural inclination develops into a passionate desire, one advances towards his goal in seven-league boots.”
Tesla knew the importance of solitude in providing him with insight, self-reflection, renewal and creativity.
“Be alone, that is the secret of invention; be alone, that is when ideas are born.”
While Tesla remained a bachelor during his life, he valued relationships deeply.
“Its not the love you make. It’s the love you give.”
Lesson 9: Keep Learning and Creating
“Invention is the most important part of man’s creative brain.”
Creating is essential to growth. Tesla recognized how invention and creativity transformed the world. He also reminds us to use our abilities to help make the world just a little better. With over 300 patents that included the world’s standard method for transmitting electricity and the radio, Tesla was one of the world’s most talented and exceptional inventors. He stands right alongside giants such as Gilbert, Coulomb, Watt, Volta, Oersted, Ampere, Ohm, Faraday, Henry, Gauss, Weber, Maxwell, Siemens, and Hertz. While he was not awarded a Nobel Prize though he richly deserved one, Tesla’s contribution was commemorated by having a unit of electrical and magnetic measurement named after him, like his intellectual peers. The Tesla (symbol T) is the SI derived unit used to measure magnetic fields.
Despite his inventions being stolen, being bullied and not reaping the financial rewards of his incredible achievements, Tesla did not give up and continued on. He was not motivated by greed and power like Thomas Edison who although talented, was so threatened by Tesla that he was willing to ruin Tesla’s career and life in the most ominous way. Edison attempted to demonstrate the risks of using AC current by killing a prison inmate through electrocution in an electric chair. Edison also killed numerous animals to prove his point. Edison did not want his influence to be usurped or to lose the backing of the wealthy and dominant financier, JP Morgan who was determined to dominate several American industries, in whatever means necessary.
Tesla, on the other hand, was not motivated by money. He considered creating and inventing part of his contribution to humanity. Tesla in many ways, was ahead of his time, as some of the power struggles that he faced then could be avoided today. He could have gained more financial backing and genuine support for his incredible inventions and ideas.
“An inventor’s endeavor is essentially lifesaving. Whether he harnesses forces, improves devices, or provides new comforts and conveniences, he is adding to the safety of our existence.”
Sources:
Kosanovic, Bogdan R., "Nikola Tesla." University of Pittsburgh, December 29, 2000. www.neuronet.pitt.edu/~bogdan/tesla/
O’Neill, John J. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla. Cosimo Classics, 2007; originally published 1944.
Uth, Robert, "Tesla: Master of Lightning." New Voyage Communications, 2000. www.pbs.org/tesla/
Tesla, Nikola. My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla. Waking Lion Press, 2006; originally published as a series of articles in Electrical Experimental magazine, 1919.