The Many Myths Surrounding Nikola Tesla

Discover the intriguing life of Nikola Tesla, from his birth in Austria to his groundbreaking inventions. Debunk myths about his rivalry with Edison and the idea of "free" wireless energy. Uncover the real story behind one of history's greatest inventors.

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[Ventus_the_Heathen]

The difference between Brain Blaze and Today I Found Out is that on TIFO he reads something ridiculous and says "Okay then." On Brain Blaze there would've been a five minute tangent about what crack Tesla was smoking eventually ending with an apology for getting off topic and then a meme.

[TheGrinningViking]

Simon actually got the bug thing right! The use of "bug" predated Edison's use, electrical interference - particularly storms - would make them click in a way operators described as "bugs" in the line from very early on.

Multiplexing would make this worse of course, as any signal calibrated incorrectly could cause this interference on other channels, no storms required.

[kirbymarchbarcena]

Tesla troopers, Tesla tanks, Tesla coils...I really miss Command & Conquer: Red Alert

[robertrockwell]

One small point of correction: Many people who invented weapons capable of mass destruction thought they were fixing the problem of war. Basically by making something so overpowered that no one would want to fight. Gatling, for example.

Also...I'm honestly wondering if part of the confusion for what Tesla was offering was that he was talking about wireless as in WITHOUT WIRE as opposed to radio wave. Like...our qi chargers.

[rickradix]

Thank you. It's important that history is recorded as accurately as possible. Tesla seemed to be reaching cult status for the past 10 years. I'd love to see all those elephant stories retracted.

[MikesTropicalTech]

I went to Tesla's birth town last summer and have a picture of myself standing next to that statue. There's a small museum and demonstration room also.

[jamesthenabignumber]

I made a video with TED-Ed about the history of electrical terminology, and I was shocked by the number of comments that said I had 'missed out Tesla', some quite aggressive. Not only was Tesla an engineer, and not a physicist, but he also didn't contribute to the story I was telling, which finished with the discovery of the electron. I investigated some more and it seems there is a recent online Cult of Tesla, which began with a long post by The Oatmeal around 10 years ago. Their core dogma that Tesla has been overlooked by history. This is despite him featuring on a 100 dinars banknote in his home country of Serbia, and a car company named after him, amongst numerous other tributes to him around the world. It somewhat comical that the people who claim Tesla is being overlooked, themselves harbour numerous false ideas about the man and his work.

[richardprzybylek]

I don’t think I’ve ever commented. First of all love the show and all the channels. The world has leaned on men like Tesla for ever. They are the ones who can take something, examine it, refine the process involved, and increase its effectiveness.

[ZOB]

I live about five minutes from Shoreham and there is a nice little museum in his old workshop there. Just south of his property was a huge RCA Radio complex used during World War II - seems like that area was particularly conducive to wireless technology.

[LeahBouley]

If you want more info on topsy, Caitlyn doughty, ask a mortician has recently made a video on said topic of elephants killing people and being put to death

[Mikkell]

This is why I've been subbed to this channel probably since it's first day. Your research is always in-depth and quite accurate. I use the variety of channels from the team to share strange, interesting or factual information and stories. I can only hope that the team will be able to continue with the work you do on all of the channels and subjects that you try to cover.

[RHCole]

This should be sponsored by Decoding the Unknown 👍🏻

[Pegfoxx]

I work in the video game industry and I have always wondered where the term "bug" came from. I have asked loads of people who I work with and nobody seems to know. Thank you Simon because I finally know where it came from.

[NotoriousEKB]

Thank you for clarifying the elephant story. I'm still sad for the elephant, but at least its pointless and cruel death wasn't motivated by pyschopathic ego, as I'd always believed.

[thesuncollective]

4:30 "Ok Then" The funniest and best timed retort in history

[aok]

Excellent video, thank you. A well-presented summary of some of the biggest Tesla myths out there. I believe Tesla's "teleautomaton" (remote-controlled boat) demonstration was in 1898 rather than 1889, however.

[dejanlucas]

Thanks for making a video about the greatest Serbian scientist of all time. If you need more materials I'd be happy to give you a hand for maybe a part 2.

[Aussiejeep]

Thank you Simon for debunking a lot of these facts. So many channels report this as fact.

[autobotskyflame]

The Tesla supergenius myth needs to stop

[bradlevantis]

The cult of Tesla has gone from a small fringe to a staple of networks like the History Channel. Glad you are trying to correct the record