Juan Mendez I

Juan Mendez

Dr.Page

ENG-111-13

04 March 4, 2019

Tesla and Edison an Electrifying Battle

“Winning is not everything, it is the only thing” (Vince Lombardi). To win is a line that

divide the positive and negative feelings, the end of a final game of basketball have the same

result as a game of super bowl of football where one teams is the winner and other not, such a

result that it can lead to feeling happiness or sadness. The life is a constant competition

throughout the history of humanity many cases have been evidenced the first and second world

war, the space race. But one of the best-known rivalries in the history which set the course of the

way in which humanity lives and communicates was the war of currents which was leading by

two genius Thomas Edison with DC (direct current) and Nickolas Tesla AC (alternating current).

Although both Edison and tesla were greatest inventors of the 20th century and they wanted to

leave a legacy, Edison was an ambitious business man while tesla was a visionary of technology.

One of the things that these two geniuses have in common was their courage and their

desire to make a contribution to the world. Wireless communication, motion cameras, induction

motor, lights and almost all modern appliance uses are based on the technology developed by

two of the most important inventors in the late 1800s Thomas Edison and Nickola Tesla. Thomas

Alva Edison, an American inventor and great businessman. Some of his most recognized

inventions were the phonograph, the electric power generator DC (direct current), the sound
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recording and the light bulb, but throughout his life he reached 1093 patents in his name, which

helped the world that is known today. In 1880 Edison Illuminating Company was found by

Edison, where Nikola Tesla was hiring to work for his technology and creative abilities, but after

some inconvenience between them. The Serbian-American Tesla Nikola decided to move away

and started his own way with the AC (alternating current) applied. In his career as an inventor,

where he could make great contributions, some of them are the induction motor, the seismic

machine and the wireless energy, as well as Thomas Edison, he obtained 300 patents all over the

world for his inventions and today they are used almost all his inventions and patents. Even some

projects he was working on are being brought to reality.

Leaving a legacy is one of the ambitions that any person wants to make and keep in time,

and this is another aspect which these inventors share as a similarity. Tesla and Edison have a

vision of leave a contribution to the following generations. A clear example of this was when

Edison said that he wanted to solve the problem of lighting in the world with the creation of the

electric bulb and its method to make it efficient and durable the DC. But at the same time, Tesla

envisioned improving the way in which human beings do their daily tasks through technology for

future generations. But the way of getting this was the difference between both would do. Edison

took credit and work of many other to develop his own and get wealth while Tesla would do the

opposite given almost everything to serve the society. A clear example was when he destroyed

all his shares and dividend from Westinghouse electric company and donate them back to expand

the company in order to keep it alive because it was in bankrupt. Although Edison and Tesla left

to legacy in the technology known today they both followed their own path.
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Edison was a great businessman and inventor while Tesla was a visionary of the

technology a big difference what mark the line which both would crossed during their life.

Thomas Alva Edison was a negotiate by nature which thanks to his cunning and courage was

able to achieve many of the goals that he proposed in addition to storing many achievements

arise money with them . His history was unique because one of his fame invention was produce

based on others work, the light bulb that was developed many year before him so, his real

contribution to this was its improvement and how he would distributed a clear example of

entrepreneur. Another example of this was when his Tesla developed a much more efficient

model to generate and conduct energy electricity and in response to this he developed

techniques to discredit the product demonstrated through cruel acts such as paying kid to collect

animal and after that kill them in front of everybody demonstrating that AC current was danger

and as a result. One of his real inventions born the electric chair. In contrast Tesla was always

fair showing to everybody his work trying to improve human being life. His passion for his job

never allowed him get a portion of money for it. Tesla could get a millionaire quantity of money

but he rejected because his goal was to create and leave a legacy of technology while Edison was

a businessman before being an inventor.

Nowadays, it is remarkable that everything related to technology is related to the great

discovery of electricity and how to use it, which has a background in the life of two great

inventors of the 19th century. Thomas Edison and Nickola Tesla were two inventors with a

similarity in how their vision was to do great things to help society with technology, but their

personalities were different. Edison was a businessman with a great vision and a large group of

workers and Tesla was an inventor. Passionate about helping others. Both made great

contributions in what we know as a modern world, even if their lives followed different paths.
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