<h1>What Made Nikola Tesla Great</h1>
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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Recently there was a movement to generate funding for a Tesla museum at his old lab in Wardenclyffe.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;This movement has succeeded in a major way.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;They have received more donations than required and should be able to start an official Tesla Museum in its rightful place.<br /><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;This is all exciting and endearing.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Seeing people come together for such a great cause.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Yet, some articles sighting this action seem almost flippant about Tesla.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;More to the point, they come off as having very little understanding of the man and why us "nerds" think he was so great.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;There is the usual comparison to Edison and the continued battle of AC versus DC, FIGHT!&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Sorry, I couldn't help it and neither can they.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;If you see this as a tech geek version of the Hatfields and the McCoys, sans the top bill actors, then you are wrong.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;If you see Tesla as a general tinker type working in his garage trying to stick it to Edison, then you are also wrong.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;These are just the common misconceptions of those that have not taken the time to do the research.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Who may glance at an article or see an episode on the History channel and now feel, "well informed" on the subject.<br /><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Let me say, I am no Fan-Boy of either gentleman as far as their applied technology.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Alternating Current and Direct Current are both sides of the same coin.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;They are required in our daily lives in such a way that we take them completely for granted.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Without Edison's DC, we would not have the current required in our electronics, which have enhanced our lives in so many ways.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Without Tesla's AC, you would have no way to power those devices, without it being a world filled with gangling cables and power transformers every block or so.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Further, Tesla created many core components to the devices we use everyday.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Without him you would not enjoy your wireless as we know it today.<br /><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Here is where it gets deeper.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Looking at these two gentleman, you would expect similar admiration qualities.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;However, they are admired for two completely different reasons.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Edison is really admired as a business man.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;He was a moderate scientist tinkerer and an avid business man.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;This is not to say it devalues his contributions, but just his perspective was completely different from Mr. Tesla.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Edison knew that in business, if it could not be monetized it wasn't worth the time.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I think this is still a core value taught in MBA programs, but I could be wrong.<br /><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Mr. Tesla was an altruistic idealist.  He believed in his work as a way to make the world a better place for his fellow man.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;There are many instances where he gave up his own interests in order to save the whole.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;It was this that makes him great in the minds of many.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Some may say having died a poor man made him unsuccessful.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I think in Mr. Tesla's mind he felt the impact he made, the comfort he created for his fellow man, still is visible all around us is his success.  <br /><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;In my research it would also appear he might have had some mild autistic tendencies.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;At the very least he had some severe OCD.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;This quality probably allowed him to visualize his inventions before he ever built them physically.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;This alone is fairly admirable.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;He even notes in his autobiography how he never built anything that didn't work the way he had expected.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Today this type of visualization takes large processing power to allow us to better understand our concepts applied to the real world.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;His computer was all in his mind.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;If you're a developer imagine your next project on the whole.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Every line of code, every function, UI element, then write it down with no errors and no user issues.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;This would be the equivalent to Mr. Tesla's development style.<br /><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;While Mr. Edison chased business concerns, Mr. Tesla worked for knowledge and understanding over the world around us.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Even his involvement in the Philadelphia experiment would indicate a humanist over capitalist.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;If you're not familiar Tesla was designated Director, designed and built the high power electromagnetic systems used in this legendary "didn't happen" experiment.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;He discretely sabotaged it due to knowing what would happen already.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;This was his previously indicated foresight.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;It is also the ultimate reason why Tesla no longer provided his knowledge to the world.  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;He understood, as Einstein came to, that once man understands the true components of the world around him, the sooner he will destroy himself.<br /><br />  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Really, you owe not just your modern creature comforts and ability to blindly post to social networks from your cellphone to Mr. Tesla.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;You also owe to him the pleasant nature of these years for not having shown the world everything he figured out.<br /><br />