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Re: Tesla not Marconi
From: Geoff Schecht[SMTP:geoffs-at-onr-dot-com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 1997 3:09 PM
To: Tesla List
Subject: Re: Tesla not Marconi
Michael:
If you can find an indexed microfiche of a newspaper for the year 1943
from a major city (say, the New York Times), I believe you'll find that was
the year in which the US Supreme Court overturned Marconi's claim to be the
"Father of Radio" and awarded that honor to Nikola Tesla. It didn't do
Tesla much good at that point since I believe that the court ruled in his
favor shortly after his death. This judgement was related to a nearly
lifelong patent dispute between the two men. It's one of my favorite
factoids, along the same lines of those about Philo Farnsworth and Edwin
Armstrong (other unappreciated electronic geniuses).
The reasons that Marconi gets all of the credit for radio are the same as
those which attribute the invention of electronic television to RCA (by way
of Vladimir Zworykin). RCA Inc and Marconi Ltd were very well-funded,
politically-connected corporations who could afford to clobber the real
geniuses like Farnsworth, Armstrong and Tesla with a battery of
high-powered lawyers and/or sweetheart legislation deals until the patent
claims ran out and the inventors went belly-up financially, died of old age
or jumped out of a window, in the case of Armstrong.
(Farnsworth and Armstrong were pretty good businessmen who were essentially
victims of their times... the years between WWI and WWII when Corporate
America really ruled the roost and the Depression killed off most sources
of venture capital for the independent inventors. Tesla had most of his
successes long before the Depression and apparently never had leanings
towards business. He just liked to have a reasonable income from his
royalty checks, a decent lab to play around in and a lot of time to think.
That made him ripe for the picking by people like Edison and Westinghouse,
who were masters at exploiting the talents of others.)
Geoff.
----------
> From: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
> To: 'Tesla List' <tesla-at-poodle.pupman-dot-com>
> Subject: Re: Tesla not Marconi
> Date: Wednesday, September 17, 1997 12:26 AM
>
>
> From: Michael Smith[SMTP:md.smith-at-usa-dot-net]
> Reply To: md.smith-at-usa-dot-net
> Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 1997 7:44 PM
> To: Tesla List
> Subject: Re: Tesla not Marconi
>
>
> >
> > From: KRAMPF-at-aol-dot-com[SMTP:KRAMPF-at-aol-dot-com]
> > Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 1997 5:22 AM
> > To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> > Subject: Re: To Kevin
> >
> > Hi All!
> >
> > I am new here and have been sitting quietly in the corner for the past
> week,
> > absorbing the wealth of information. When I saw Alfred A. Skrocki's
> post I
> > had to respond.
> >
> > In a message dated 9/16/97 5:09:03 AM, Alfred A. Skrocki wrote:
> >
> > <<Now you cooking! I might add that the deplorable educational system
> > in this country still insists that Marconi was the inventor of radio,
> > so much so that my daughter was suspended when she bought in a copy
> > of the Supreme court decision that Tesla NOT Marconi was the
> rightfulrightful
> >
> > inventor of radio!
> > >>
> >
> > Tell me more about your daughter's ordeal. I teach teachers how to do
> > hands-on science and would love to use this as an example of why we
> need to
> > "unlearn" all of the old myths.
> >
> > I have been using a Tesla coil for science programs for 13 years and
> was
> > delighted when I found this group.
> >
> > PS - Dr. Resonance, is that you D.C.?
> >
> > Robert Krampf
> > Science Education Company
> > http://members.aol-dot-com/krampf/home.html
> >
> >
> Alfred,
>
> You know, I would like to hear that too. In fact, if anyone can cite a
> good reference, I would like to present it to the radio station here in
> Lincoln, NE that has a commercial talking up their 50 year anniversary
> that says "50 years of making Marconi proud". I bristle when I here
> that, and they play it every day on my way to work.
>
> Michael Smith
> md.smith-at-usa-dot-net
>
>
>