Thursday, July 31, 2014

Blog Post #89 - “I know two great men,one is you and the other is this young man.” - Do you know these 2 men?

Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I have really worked, is mine.

- N.T. (the whole blog is about this man.. so I wont write his name.)

I have your attention now.


“I know two great men,one is you and the other is this young man.” - Do you know these 2 men?


So who are these 2 people.

 This man came to US with the introductory letter given to him - a A light bulb should go off when I say something like. .light bulb.

The first man made the bulb.

 The second man powered the world and the bulb through ac electricity.Most of us know ac current . Few understand how it works and few know who created it.

He was born in Austro-Hungarian empire in 1856.




You can name the first man in your sleep,dream and in your waking hours. Did you know Thomas Alva Edison created experiments with the help of his company to bringdown the reputation of the invention ac current and second man in the letter .
When you become a full-fledged American you will appreciate an American joke," Edison said and didnt pay the 50,000 he promised.


Edison wanted to promote his DC current which was powering wall street at that time!

Please don't watch the video in the link below if you have a faint heart(like me!)

Edison made the following experiment where he showed how animals like elephant die/get electrocuted and tried to prove a point that human will also die like this.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkBU3aYsf0Q 


He died at a very poor man with no recognition.

Do you know his name? He played an important part in creating Wireless,X-ray and even remote control. He even created an early prototype of smart phone... (of course his name is not Steve Jobs!)




He sold 40 patents to Westinghouse who became a millionaire using this and he died penniless. 

He made Niagara generate electricity.. he worked with westinghouse and installed the hydro electric plant.

He crossed path with all powerful people in US at that time from Graham Bell to JP Morgan.Edison and he didn't get along. He worked for Edison and quit the job. Both were not sworn enemies according to PBS.



“When there were fires at his laboratory, Edison provided him a lab, so clearly there was some mutual respect,”  from pbs website.



"The United States Supreme Court, in 1943 held Marconi's most important patent invalid, recognizing ... more significant contribution as the inventor of radio technology"Click on this link to learn more 

There is a car company in his name now.

Did you find it? If so write in the comment section.



Keep learning

Sivakumar Manikanteswaran






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