Subj : Re: do serious programmers have a life? To : comp.programming From : Gerry Quinn Date : Fri Sep 30 2005 10:59 am In article , mabden@sbc_global.net says... > "Gerry Quinn" wrote in message > news:MPG.1da476634de21fb98a623@news.indigo.ie... > > > > It might be noted that J.P.Morgan and Lord Rothschild were in on the > > AC project. Tesla was hardly standing alone against the robber barons. > > Yet neither was ruined in the process Neither was Tesla, according to any biographical information I found. He got in financial trouble later after an unrelated project failed and he was hit for unpaid taxes. > > Edison did conduct demonstrations to show (quite correctly, in fact) > > that Tesla's AC power system, with its higher voltage and 60Hz > > variation, was more dangerous than his DC system. > > I've grabbed a pair of wires. I'm still alive. I also survived the > Chernoble accident, by being very, very far away. I have even been so > bold as to venture out into the day when a huge ball of nuclear furnace > was pelting me with "dangerous" radiation. Some risks just need to be > taken. To say Edison should have kept quiet about the real risks of a project harmful to his interests is asking rather a lot! (And if you live in the US, the reason that you survived grabbing the wires may be that Edison's original low voltage is still used. So you may have Edison to thank for your life!) > However, the attempt to bankrupt Tessla was over and above. It was > wrong. Where did he attempt to bankrupt Tesla? As I said, Tesla wasn't the only man behind AC power, and he wasn't bankrupted by the 'War of Currents'. (Though Edison did allegedly rip him off for $50K much earlier when Tesla was his employee.) - Gerry Quinn .