“If I find 10,000 ways something won’t work, I haven’t failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.”
Thomas A. Edison, Encyclopaedia Britannica
“Genius is one per cent inspiration, ninety-nine per cent perspiration.”
Thomas A. Edison, Harper’s Monthly, 1932
“If Edison had a needle to find in a haystack, he would proceed at once with the diligence of the bee to examine straw after straw until he found the object of his search… I was a sorry witness of such doings, knowing that a little theory and calculation would have saved him ninety per cent of his labor.”
Nikola Tesla, New York Times, October 19, 1931
Yeah, it’s weird how history works. I’d like to read more about these two guys and how Edison wound up on top. I wonder if personality had anything to do with it. OR maybe it was a case of knowing the right people.
Mainly Tesla was in it for the science, and Edison, although also into science, was a businessman first.
Also Edison was a bit of a lying bastard, and killed puppies and an elephant to try to discredit Tesla.
Edison was clever, but Tesla was a bona fide genius – not just a decade ahead of his time, but half a century or even a century ahead of his time.
In the end, although Tesla’s technology prevailed in every respect, Edison was more financially successful, so ended up writing the history books.