It's doubly annoying because Tesla had some real achievements and deserved the recognition he got for them. He's overrated now for the stupid Tesla vs. Edison myth that claims he was underrated and suppressed.
Let that stand as a symbol for all the other horrible things Edison did, like electrocuting a number of dogs and cats, and killing his assistant.
Tesla is not exactly overrated, but at least he never stole credit for inventions, and he never killed anyone, unlike Edison (his assistant, glassblower Clarence Madison Dally, who died a rather horrible death).
"Relatively unknown," is a better description for Tesla. Edison invented a few things, the telegraph... no that was David Alter. Edison invented something to copy telegraphs, and he invented the phonograph, which was truly revolutionary, a way to record sound... but he did not invent the record player... he made lightbulbs practical... but he did not invent the electric lightbulb, of course. Edison did not invent the kinetoscope, or movie camera (that was Edward Muybridge) and he knew very little about it, but he took credit for it anyway. Edison took credit for wax paper, but he had absolutely nothing to do with that invention (invented by Gustav Le Gray). He did not invent storage batteries, but he made a lot of money with them. Edison did not invent the power generator, though he is credited for it (his assistants, Charles Batchelor and Francis Upton, were the true inventors of this).
Nearly all the other great achievements attributed to Edison were actually invented by his rival inventors or unknown (to the masses) employees, the researchers he hired, (such as the electric chair, invented by Harold P. Brown).
Tesla was a lot smarter than Edison. He never wrote anything down, and was able to keep his designs in his head. He invented the Tesla coil, the Tesla Turbine, The Shadowgraph, the Neon Lamp, The Niagra Falls Transformer House, the Induction Motor, the RC boat, Alternating Current, and Radio. Tesla held over 300 patents across 5 continents, and all of then were his innovations. God knows how many of Edison's 1000-some patents were actually his.
I don't understand how you or anyone can believe what you wrote. Edison was a major douche bag, an obvious sociopath, which sort of overshadows what he actually invented, which actually number in the low double digits. Tesla's inventions number in the low-mid triple digits
Tesla is not overrated, quite the opposite, apparently, and Edison certainly is not better in any regard than Tesla.
But Tesla was weird, and not all that popular. Edison, like all successful sociopaths throughout history, was hugely popular.
> Edison was a major douche bag, an obvious sociopath, which sort of overshadows what he actually invented, which actually number in the low double digits
This is some sort of urban legend/myth that came about sometime in the early 2000s. Probably due to the Oatmeal.
Edison was not a sociopath. Specifically with respect to Dally, Edison kept Dally on the payroll even when he was too sick to work, and IIRC personally paid out Dally's immediate family a coninuing pension after Dally's death. For the era around 1900 that was unheard of, and at the very least, evidence of humanity that you don't seem to be willing to admit.
Keeping Dally on the payroll doesn't negate that he initially showed no regard for Dally's nor his own safety, which is a sociopathic trait. It does not make up for Edison's ruthless practices, nor his unbridled ambition and greed. Edison had no respect for Tesla, even cruelly mocking him, behavior you'll find in sociopaths. Edison had a disregard for right and wrong, was consistently dishonest, a compulsive liar, even taking credit for the Fluoroscope which killed Dally, though Tesla had been working on it before Edison irresponsibly began messing around with it. Dishonesty is a sociopathic trait. Edison stiffed Tesla a significant amount of money he owed him for fixing his DC motor, and in fact, Edison would not share any of his wealth. Edison relished being the center of attention, another sociopathic trait. I could compromise with you and say we can't know for certain that he was a sociopath. He may have merely been a narcissist, as there are a number of overlapping symptoms.
