RE: Tesla Related Article

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: <davep@xxxxxxxx>

>[Edison....] had 10s or 100s of low paid researchers
     Edison was able to afford assitants after his first few
     inventions paid off.

> using the brute force empirical approach
> with little or no theoretical basis for each new experiment.
     There was 'little or no' what we now call theoretical basis,
     for anyone's work, at the time.

> He said the researchers did all the work and Edison TOOK all the credit.
     The ability to pick somethin direction to work on,
     is important.  Anyone who did not like the arrangement
     was free to leave, and do what they could on their own.
     Tesla did, so did others.

> Of course I didn't believe him. In the decades since little clues and
> my life experience has amassed to the point where now I think it more
> likely that Edison was just nothing more than another robber baron of
> his time, standing on the backs of the people that he could.
     He needed, first, to invent something(s) to make the money
     to hire the assistants.  I suggest that the ability to work
     _with_ others may be desirable.  Edison started with next to
     nothing.

> What does this have to do with coiling?  Well skepticism is healthy
> and necessary for good science.
     Indeed.  So is understanding what actually happened.  Perhaps
     understanding facts as distinct from 'heroes and villains'
     soap opera' is important.

     best
      dwp