While Thomas Edison is known for several inventions, he was also a rich businessman who was able to turn them into viable businesses. Nikola Tesla was a penniless inventor just the opposite of Thomas Edison. We can’t easily say that one of them was better than the other one but we should know it wasn’t a fair competition between them.
Thomas Alva Edison
He was a successful investor and a businessman. He develops a lot of stuff like a light bulb, motion picture camera and phonograph. He has like 1093 patents from these inventions.
Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla was an inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer and physicist. He is best known for designing modern alternating current (AC) electrical supply systems.
In 1884 Nikola Tesla moved to New York for working in the company of Thomas Edison. Tesla told Edison that he can improve Edison’s inventions which are inefficient motors and generators. Edison offered fifty thousand dollars to Nikola Tesla for improvement. Tesla succeeded, but Edison claimed the bet was a joke and only offered him a $10 a week raise on Tesla’s $18 a week salary because of that Tesla resigned from Edison’s company.
After resigning, Tesla found Tesla Electric Light Company and he develops patents for alternating current generators. In the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison had a war called the “War of the Currents” while Edison is promoting the use of direct current (DC) Tesla is supporting alternating current (AC) which can allow us to transmit a large amount of energy to cities. Even in that war Edison was not fairly competitive and spread misinformation about Tesla’s alternating current.
Who Was Better?
For me, it is not fair to just remember Thomas Edison for his attitude to Nikola Tesla. He invented and develop very useful stuff for people. He is one of the most popular inventors of all time. He is ahead of Tesla in comparison to patent numbers. However, for me, Nikola Tesla was a better scientist and inventor than Thomas Edison. If that was a fair competition and Tesla didn’t need money there is no chance that Edison will be more successful than Nikola Tesla.