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In 1915, when he was 68, Edison actually turned down the nomination for the Nobel Prize in physics, because it was to be shared with Tesla. Edison apparently felt that it would be better to refuse the honor than to allow his rival the attention that would have come even from sharing the prize. Edison was a businessman turned inventor, not the other way around. He was bluntly against AC power because an adoption towards that would kill off his other products that relied on DC power.

Once upon a time he was my idol.

yea this site looks historically correct, and i will immediately believe everything it says

but, didn't he invent the chair with six legs and the automatic hammer?

Tesla > Edison

Other things Edison didn't invent:

The Airplane
Toothpaste
Atomic Energy
Polyester
Birds

Mirror anyone?

Tesla was a much better inventor than Edison was... mostly because Edison didn't invent much. Sure, he had the most patents, but he ran a company where he took the ideas of his employees - whereas the true inventors and geniuses, such as Tesla, worked for the sake of science and human progression rather than money.

Only 9?

Seriously, if you think Edison invented some of the things on this list in the first place, you're incredibly stupid.

It's sort of like how Henry Ford is credited with inventing the automobile/assembly line, or how Columbus was until recently credited with discovering America.

Edison and Ford were also quite similar in that after they made their original technological breakthroughs, they just stopped, thinking what they came up with was the be-all-to-end-all solution forever, and took great offense when more talented individuals (ie: their rivals) vastly improved upon their ideas.

Site's already down, http://www.duggmirror.com

Tesla was pure genius. Period. Edison wished he was one one-hundreth as smart as Telsa. What bothered people like Edison about Tesla was that Tesla wanted to give to humanity all of the things he invented. He wanted FREE electric power for all mankind. Nuff said.

Wow. Everything I ever knew about Edison is a lie!

It's Santa Clause all over again..

http://www.duggmirror.com
Can't you send a good mirror??? lol

I just read the Wiki on Tesla and am convinced he was an alien.

You may have noticed that The Internet was not on that list... This is because he did in fact invent the Internet, prior to inventing the computer or the incandescent light bulb...

Does no one cite where their information comes from?

I don't trust that site, it doesn't cite sources or anything.

marked for inaccurate.

I was never taught that Edison invented the telegraph.

I've got a few more he didn't invent:

Pizza, Pepperoni Pizza, Sausage Pizza, Extra Cheese Pizza, Hawai'ian Pizza ...

Man, now I'm hungry!

What Edison had, and many (if not most) inventors lack, was good business sense. Edison didn't invent the light bulb (strictly speaking, Edison's greatest invention was probably Industrial R&D), but he did invent a light bulb that was economical. Edison invented a practical efficent light bulb and formed Edison Electric Light Company to spread its adoption. Edison brought the light bulb out from a minor foot note in history to an important part of daily life. William Sawyer and Nikola Tesla did not.

Where's the proof?

What I've read many times is that as soon as he heard about an invention he would go to the patent office and get a patent for it. So, basically, he stole other people's inventions.

Pretty large misrepresentation of fact. Edison’s bio states he took a job as a telegraph operator at age 18, nd made several improvements. (whoops – there goes #9) Light bulbs had been invented, but not small low cost ones useable by consumers.
No Digg

Tesla quit working for Edison because Edison screwed him out of a small fortune, not because Edison stole Tesla's ideas. Judging from his patent list Tesla was more of a specialist and concentrated, albeit in no trivial way, on a limited field. Edison was a more holistic thinker and worked to transform science and theory into practical yet economical consumer products. One other thing, Tesla and Edison did not feud over the AC/DC issue. Tesla sold the patents for AC power generation to George Westinghouse who used them to build what is now General Electric. It was Westinghouse and Edison who threw all of the punches.

you all only love tesla because of the tesla coil in C&C. I know I do.

Until recently, Antonio Meucci has been neglected by nearly all, mere footnotes in the fields of Science and Italian history. His house on Staten Island is more known for Garibaldi than Meucci and his contributions have mostly gone unnoticed. Hopefully that is starting to change as in 2002 the US Congress passed Resolution 269, finally recognizing Antonio Meucci as the true inventor of the Telephone. The genius of Meucci should be rightfully acknowledged not only as a telecommunications pioneer, but also as a great Italian who deeply cared for his countrymen and supported a unified and free Italy.

http://www.lifeinitaly.com/heroes-villains/antonio-meucci.asp

True Inventor of the telephone

http://www.lifeinitaly.com/heroes-villains/antonio-meucci.asp

The list isn't completely true. Edison was a businessman and an inventor. He didn't just sit alone in his basement tinkering (well, maybe when he was young), he had a large company employing hundreds of engineers. Although he didn't "invent" many of the things on the list, he did think of them, and assigned the ideas to his various subordinates to actually work out the details

so what you're saying is...

he couldn't blend?

Let's translate the patents to today's system and courts:

1. Light Bulb - Any means of generating light from any power source
2. Electric Chair - Any means of stimulation from any power source
3. Movies - Any form of entertainment with pictures with or without sound
4. Power Generator - Any means of generation of power for above and below said
5. X-Rays - Any means to see what the eye cannot
6. Battery - Any means to store generated power of any state
7. Record Player - Any means to play sound or music post-live production
8. Wax Paper - Wax paper? Who fricken cares about that now??? Wrapping food?!! Le Gray was obviously not a Digger
9. Telegraph - Any means of binary communication

Tesla was brilliant. But brilliance does not always mean success and effectiveness.

Wilhelm Roentgen was the first (or amongst) to discover the x-ray - at least 10 years prior to the attributed "tesla" discovery in this story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Conrad_R%C3%B6ntgen

We all know Edison didn't invent the light bulb, but what makes him important is that he made the first model of the light bulb that we use today. The old light bulbs would oxidize way too quickly due to the 4000 degrees that the even non-reactive tungsten would have to withstand, until Edison realised, why not just put tungsten with a non-reactive gas.

Everything else is interesting, but most people credited with things aren't fully responsible or even the original creators (Albert Einstein and Pythagorean Theorem come to mind)

Ben Franklin invented Electricity, Kites, Keys, the Fire Station, and Poor Farmers. Plus he was a Wizard, a mighty one such as is only spoken about in whispers.

That's why he's the one who took George Washington to take the sword out of the stone of New York.

Interesting how responsibility has been redefined in terms of financial gain - so it now matters
MUCH less to most people that a certain person actually discovered or invented a thing than
who made it profitable.
If we continue to worship profit over discovery, our species will likely be headed for a mindless
obsession with profit and trade, and discovery will slowly cease to occur - much like Ferengi,
the fictional species depicted on 'Star Trek'.
(Certainly we already have a great many who specialize in swindling and cheating their ways
to 'success', as the source article proves very well...)

This quote:
"Keep on the lookout for novel ideas that others have used successfully.
Your idea has to be original only in its adaptation to the problem you're working on."
- Thomas Edison

Makes me wonder if Edison and this era's biggest monopolist (Gates) are actually
related, if only by inspiration...

Speaking personally, I would rather be remembered (if at all) for any good things I
may have done, rather than whatever wealth I may have amassed.

wow, Edison was an asshole :/

Thomas Edison received a patent on 8/9/1892 for a TWO WAY telegraph. I doubt anyone has been proposing that he invented the first telegraph which was invented in 1775.

This article is misleading, inaccurate, needlessly negative and getting a -Digg for being a general waste of time.

The article is misleading, because Edison invented workable things - that is, he took concepts from others not having a workable design, and turned those into reality. For example, light bulbs worked as prototypes for 2-10 minutes, after which they burned out - not very practical. But Edison found a way to make light bulbs burn for hundreds of hours, thus making them practical.

He also didnt make Santa clause, the internet, or Simon Cowell (thank God)