The Many Myths Surrounding Nikola Tesla

[@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.

[@haberschnack]

True and don't forget movies, pop culture and the wish to have a more fantastical, whimsical past/history.

[@OldManBOMBIN]

I gotta check this out. Brain Blaze, you say? Aight.

[@OldManBOMBIN]

Wait, what? Am I trippin right now?

[@AnderSiN84]

“You’re god damn right” Walter white meme.

[@Coltwollsch]

​@@OldManBOMBIN please tell me you've never seen brain blaze before

[@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.

[@skylerthacreator]

Buggers

[@duanesamuelson2256]

Yep..I just posted the same. However, for computer bugs, it was an actual insect, which caused a malfunction in the mark 1. Grace Hopper found it and thereafter called malfunctions bugs. Since she was effectively the "mother" of programming, people who worked with her picked up the term.

[@tst6735]

"Why was the first computer error called a bug?  Probably because in 1947, computer programmer Grace Hopper and her team found a bug - a real moth, lying in a relay of Harvard University's Mark II electromechanical computer. The moth was found on a piece of tape on the machine's logbook."

[@dandonohue9484]

4th1 3rd22nd😮were eery😅 treer😅the y 8😮😮5😅5😅😅

[@SteelSkin667]

@@duanesamuelson2256 If you look at the report where the moth was taped, it states "first actual case of a bug being found", implying that they were already informally referring to errors as bugs, but that amusingly it was caused by an actual bug.

[@kirbymarchbarcena]

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

[@jliller]

Rubber shoes in motion.

[@Pegfoxx]

That game is a classic, I play Red Alert 3 on PC to this very day lol.

[@richardprzybylek8989]

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.

[@fastinradfordable]

It’s true it’s his first comment I checked

[@bradlevantis913]

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

[@robertrockwell8995]

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.

[@Pay-No-Mind]

That is what he was offering, a way to wirelessly transmit electricity from point to point as a utility initially. Yep!, it has it's hangups but we have him to thank for many things, wireless charging is one of them.

[@gregorymaus6289]

To be fair, the invention of nuclear weapons finally succeeded in that regard, with mutually assured destruction ensuring that wars have been much less common than in previous centuries--at the cost that any mistake could make escalation so much worse.

[@georgeedward602]

Think about that. How can a man living in a time when there is no radio call it a radio wave?

[@georgeedward602]

@@gregorymaus6289 I disagree..The conflicts are smaller but never-ending,,, which is not better but worse..time will tell I guess.

[@jochenstacker7448]

We have been transmitting electricity wirelessly for as long as we've had transformers. It's called induction and wireless charging is just another form of this. His idea to transmit large amounts of electricity wirelessly over great distances is nonsensical. The losses would be astronomical.

[@MikkellTheImmortal]

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.

[@ZOB4]

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.

[@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.

[@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

[@rickradix6174]

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.

[@thecactusman17]

Annoyingly, Nikola Tesla has gotten attention for being the namesake of a company founded by a would-be Edison.

[@pinkiesisu]

yesss definitely losing sleep over those elephants

[@mrgadget1485]

@@thecactusman17 , you mean wanna-be Edison...

[@thecactusman17]

@@mrgadget1485 I'm not sure how much difference there is. They both got rich on being early investors and buying patents for technology they didn't create. I'll grant Edison the superior position by starting business without the membership of significant family inheritance.

[@andreasschmitt2307]

This cult is much older, I think it started back in the late 19th century when Westinghouse tried to establish Tesla as his local electricity wizard. Tesla even wrote about some of those myths in his autobiography. I think the web was full of them since it's beginning, my first contact was mid of the 90s.

[@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.

[@Loralanthalas]

*gaze* without having listened I'm now interested in the version you've heard. I've always heard Edison did it to prove to customers that Teslas form was so deadly it could LEAP THROUGH THE AIR to kill you. ---- us apes are super scared of invisible stuff leaping through time & space to kill us, so we used Edisons wires and feel better knowing we at least have to touch it and make a group to fight zapped/dead.

[@ghostcat11]

the elephant killed 3 people

[@Loralanthalas]

Yeah, and Edison was innocent of that was well. Crazy

[@geneticdisorder1900]

@@Loralanthalas I’ve heard the same story also, clarification isa wonderful thing. The simple truth from everyone would be perfect.

[@Loralanthalas]

@@geneticdisorder1900 a utopia that perhaps someday the human race will get to.

[@aok8367]

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.

[@tristangossman8910]

I was thinking the same thing...happy to know I wasn't the only one.

[@autobotskyflame6287]

The Tesla supergenius myth needs to stop

[@ElemérHuszti]

Nuh uh

[@alexanderarkum4793]

Why?

[@PooNinja]

Topsy was abused so it fought back. Justice for Topsy!

[@charlescaine6022]

These Tesla myths are.....shocking.

[@xanxangel8640]

Ba dum tss

[@marcelogaea1064]

🤭👍🏼

[@dingusdingus2152]

How dare you

[@Klinkiwinki]

Booo *patrick meme*

[@infidelcastro5129]

Go ohm.

[@dejanlucas7747]

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.

[@Aussiejeep80]

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

[@enadegheeghaghe6369]

He is debunking myths, not facts. Facts cannot be debunked.

[@marcpp]

​@@enadegheeghaghe6369they sure can

[@darthrevan454]

​@@marcppok name a fact that was debunked

[@davidmcmahon4192]

Thanks for clearing up a lot of the myths surrounding Telsa and Edison, much appriciated m8!

[@Thickcurves]

He did miss a few of Tesla false beliefs though. Tesla didn't believe in atomic theory, yup he didn't believe in electrons. Also he didn't believe in relativity and a lot of Einstein's work. Overall a great video, just wish he would of included those and the fact that Tesla didn't discover AC current and did not invent the first machine that could produce AC current.

[@spinnymathingy3149]

@@Thickcurves yeah agreed, there’s great videos by “Kathy loves physics and history “ which goes into a lot of detail

[@tevarinvagabond1192]

​@@spinnymathingy3149Don't base your knowledge on videos by content creators with dubious credentials...80% or more of your research should be from books, scientific journals online, and/or actual instruction by a professional... 10-15% of your research can then be watching confirmed professionals instruct something via video or audiobook, with the remaining percentage being random sources like on KZbin that you're talking about. NEVER let that 80% of main research be KZbin...that is never a good thing

[@spinnymathingy3149]

@@tevarinvagabond1192 mate, don’t second guess what someone might use as reference material

[@tevarinvagabond1192]

@@spinnymathingy3149 Chappie, I CAN and I WILL because it's dangerous for people to rely solely on information they get from random sources that haven't been fact checked, especially when a good deal of people on KZbin or other social media end up talking about things without anything to back up their words (and often aren't professionals in any field, or at least on the subject they're talking about, and thus get things wrong quite often). Lazy behaviour like yours is why younger generations are becoming increasingly more ignorant as they base their knowledge on misinformation and poorly pieced together bits of information without context.

[@thesuncollective1475]

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

[@vennom14]

A bug in the system or computer bug are both descendants of the bugs you mentioned It's interesting how phrases adapt with technology

[@pc_gaijin]

That bug fact is very interesting, I was told years ago that this was started by Grace Hopper, but it seems to predate her by many years. Thank you for correcting my knowledge!

[@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.

[@micahphilson]

When it just started, I loved the idea of learning more about an obscure historical figure who contributed so much to our culture than he ever got credit for, but... WOW did they end up taking it far. I stopped listening when people started semi-deifying him in the same way as some do now for Elon Musk. As always, the truth is somewhere in the middle, and simultaneously less satisfying and far more interesting than either far one-sided take. Just like how recently people started vilifying Christopher Columbus, true history typically lies somewhere in the middle ground.

[@Willy_Tepes]

I think the belief that technology is being hidden from us, stems from the fact that we are ruled by criminals who's main focus is power and personal wealth. It is not unreasonable to suspect that some disruptive technologies have been suppressed, but there is no proof or indication of this in the case of Nikola Tesla. People are very quick to believe things that confirm their already held beliefs, and to be honest, many people are just plain stupid. The problem is that they don't realize it themselves.

[@SEAZNDragon]

The more I looked into Tesla the more I see hype. Sure the man had some interesting ideas but none became useful devices in real life, except for improvements in AC current. As much as Edison was a dick businessman he helped create real world (or in the case rod the lightbulb improved) inventions we still use today. I remember a KZbin video noting the current Tesla worship was due to to the Great Recession when anyone in a high corporate position was vilified. So out with Edison (who was probably a victim of how much of history is learned in cliff notes form) and in came Tesla, victim of the corporations. The man who gave up his shares in Westinghouse to get AC rolling. I think worshipping Tesla is more a sign of one’s politics then views on science.

[@polarbear3262]

@@micahphilson I think it's because Tesla really was overlooked in the past. I don't know how old you are but when I was a kid, Tesla used to be just a footnote in school books while Edison was on pages and pages and at that point Edison was at the spot that Tesla is today where tons of stuff that he didn't invent were credited to him. Then with rise of the internet and fall of Yugoslavia he slowly came into spotlight where now he is known through world and worshiped. But it seems the tide is again turning against him. Sadly people go to extremes.

[@rachellarris2305]

Omg was the Cult of Tesla just from The Oatmeal? Because I remember that

[@duanesamuelson2256]

Bug in computer systems, actual computers, was an actual bug found in Mark 1. (cockroach if i remember correctly). Grace Hopper used the term bug, following the roach causing the malfunction, for computer malfunctions. Random noise on the telegraph lines was called bugs by operators because of how they sounded. Also, in the same vein, Horace Martin invented a semiautomatic telegraph key in 1907, which is called a bug (vibroplex) to help deal with his degraded abilities after years of using a straight key. The term bug probably goes back to prehistory when termites would eat wooden tools.

[@1pcfred]

What Grace did not do was use the term bug first. She was born a lifetime too late to do that. You remember incorrectly. It was a moth.

[@duanesamuelson2256]

@Paul Frederick thanks for the reminder it was a moth I haven't thought of it in 30 years. I didn't say she was the first to use the word bug. That was early telegraph operators describing line moise and predated Edison also. I said she was the first one to describe computer malfunctions

[@dontarguewithidiots7459]

Wow. Tesla was human. Mind blown. Seriously.

[@alvermeil5884]

I found the story of Tesla fascinating, and debunking mini of the myth's. To me, the most important thing was you cleared Edison's name in regards to killing the elephant. That story has really tainted my impression of the great inventor. Keep up the great work.

[@whitneyr.846]

Let's be honest. The ultimate villain of the story is J.P. Morgan 😂

[@jamesdelk8926]

Yep fake khazars from turkey like Morgan is a villain Edison too stealing Tesla's ideas

[@seemev2.0phuckbootube78]

Yup. Like a mobster or Bond007 bad guy vill.

[@MrSidney52]

Good ol capitalism. We'll never know the extent of inventions & cures bought up to keep the money rolling in.

[@faroncobb6040]

Not sure how you get that conclusion. J. P. Morgan gave Tesla quite a lot of money in exchange for which Tesla promised to build a transatlantic radio. Instead Tesla attempted to build a broadcast power station that never had a hope of doing anything practical, and Morgan refused to give Tesla more money after he had wasted the first lot. If anyone is the villain in that story it is Tesla.

[@MrSidney52]

@@faroncobb6040 Morgan pulled his funding when he discovered it was Tesla's intention to provide free electricity Headline; Nikola Tesla dreamed of free electricity; what happened?

[@danielhale1]

Today I Found Out I believed a lot of outright myths, not just about Tesla, but also about the origin of the term "bug". It's about a century older than I believed! Thank you for the mythbusting!

[@nunya___]

I really like the format and production of this channel (I wish Simon's other channels would follow suit) and setting the record straight on Tesla and Edison.

[@Whitebishop89]

What channel don't you like of Simons?

[@captainspaulding5963]

Simon's other channels serve the exact purpose they are supposed to.

[@nunya___]

@@Whitebishop89 They play unrelated music (I assume free stock music) loud enough that it makes it difficult for me to hear Simon and he sometimes drops his voice and speaks very quickly, usually when explaining a point. I love all the channels just not their post production choices.

[@katiesdumbvideos5418]

Picturing a young Nikola Tesla providing tech support and answering calls with, “Hello, NT, have you tried turning it off and in again?”

[@Lumencraft-]

Really good digging on this. I love the attention to detail.

[@dddon513]

It's amazing some people still think Tesla knew things 100 years ago that we still don't understand today. There's nothing he did that's in anyway mysterious or unrepeatable.

[@1pcfred]

It was certainly mysterious when Tesla did it.

[@unk4617]

yk funny thing , i think if ac was never invented or known about and you seriously decided to work on the idea of ac and understand it nowdays you'll be met with 10x more scrutiny

[@prashantsinghsisodia6709]

​@unk4617 ac was already invented before the birth of Tesla, and multi phase ac current/ motor was developed independently of Tesla, but Tesla's design was more efficient.

[@unk4617]

@@prashantsinghsisodia6709 yeah i am quite careful about saying stuff like "even if this scientist did'nt discover this we would eventually figure this out

[@richtomlinson7090]

​@@unk4617 Hippolyte Pixii was first with AC.

[@theodoreaguglia8902]

Thanks for explaining the whole elephant execution thing.... I always thought they just wanted to demonstrate the power of AC and decided to fry an elephant to showcase

[@vorpalblades]

The Tesla Valve was his greatest invention and almost no one knows about that. Dude didn't know shit about electricity. He didn't even believe electrons existed. Seems like a major oversight for an electrical engineer.

[@justinsmith7245]

Besides John Moses Browning my favorite and most inspirational person in history goes to Tesla. Job well done.

[@supermikeb]

I'm glad you wanted to tell the truth about Tesla. I was under the impression Tesla and Edison were not on bad terms, and it was Westinghouse let Tesla keep the patents though. Besides the Tesla Coil, he is not that important as far as electrical development. Michael Faraday is probably best scientist and did the most for our development. Mikhail Dolivo-Dobrovolsky invented the 3-phase induction motor, and generator, which are in use today. Lenz invented the transformer based on Michael Faraday's ideas which was improved by Westinghouse, and is in use today. No, Tesla didn't invent AC power. It was invented before he was born. The Niagara Dam project was really all Westinghouse, who hired Tesla as a "consultant", but basically only used Tesla's name on it to promote it as he was so popular.

[@Menuki]

Something overlooked (perhaps swept under the rug) the that Tesla was a believer in eugenics. The way the internet likes to set him on a pedestal, I feel like it’s something they’d rather not acknowledge. But it was just a popular concept at the time. Ppl really thought it was the way to advance mankind. It really wasn’t until the 3rd Reich push the concept to the most extreme version did ppl see the folly of eugenics.

[@ripn929707]

There were a lot of public figures and world leaders who subscribed to the ideas of eugenics around that time. The Nazis extremist actions certainly made any association with such ideas less than desirable after WW2.

[@lawrencestrabala6146]

It was a shameful Thing.

[@davidbonar5190]

by and large we've already started with modern eugenics on humans - in artificial fertilization events multiple oocytes are fertiliized, the seemingly most viable gets implanted, the rest destroyed. this type of directed artificial selection (in comparison to natural selection processes) is an integral part of eugenics. abortions after NIPT, where specific genetic defects are considered a risk to health and life of pre-/peri-/post-natal child and/or mother are also eugenic methods. eugenics per se isn't bad, nor good, but it is very useful (most of our high-yield plants and animals for food production were developed with eugenics methods, same goes for microorganisms in biotech), very powerful and very abusable, especially when used ideologically in an unethical totalitarian or fundamentalist environment, like nazis administering livestock breeding/culling programs on humans to racially ascend the germans into a state of aryan übermensch-ism... (rewards and prestige for nazi women who give birth to 10 or more children as if they were breeding cows, forced sterilizations/castrations of germans with birth defects and other seemingly genetically based undesirable traits, complete extermination of racially inferior Untermenschen...). yours, a biotech engineer and molecular biologist from germany :)

[@Menuki]

@@ripn929707 Teddy Roosevelt too, someone else who is heavily idolized. If time travel does exist, the reason no one kills Hitler is because he demonstrated the true horrors of eugenics. Imagine a future we’re every country had a state sponsored eugenics program….

[@ripn929707]

@@davidbonar5190 I would argue that the world wide proliferation of warning signs, safety straps, guard rails, allergy medications, and vaccines have had the opposite effect. All those people would have been removed from the breeding population, leaving only the strongest, healthiest, and most intelligent to propagate. Add to that, the often ignored fact that the modern era has given to the rise of huge cities, with huge low income, low education areas that are breeding the most aggressive youth we have ever seen.

[@dennishorsthuis1507]

Always refreshing thank you for clarifying and you are a real gem to KZbin

[@Centroidlocus]

I am truly grateful that this video exists, for it dispels the illusion of tesla being a divine clairvoyant of sorts, which sadly appears to be prevalent online, not to mention the Nikola Tesla sigma edits....the lesser talked about them, the better

[@juro7854]

I had no idea that there was a story about Edison killing an elephant but I think the concept that people took it at face value is hilarious

[@brad2751]

I always heard about Edison electrocuting dogs to show how dangerous AC was, not an elephant.

[@CharlieSolis]

I’ve seen pictures…. I don’t understand how Simon could put out a video like this. There are so many patently inaccurate claims…..

[@playedout148]

@@CharlieSolis well, I mean, it's still just a video on KZbin. Not exactly the highest standard in terms of truth in reporting.

[@CharlieSolis]

@@playedout148 the fact that you’re defending them for not doing their research properly (when that’s the only thing they have to do) because they are just farming views to make money while they put out patently inaccurate information…. 🤷‍♂️

[@saltypen3139]

That was another person: Harold Pitney Brown, he was the one purchasing strays all around to electrocute them to show how dangerous AC is, iirc he was part of Edison’s crew Hell, one of the many words proposed for ‘dying by electricity’ was ‘Browned’ because of him

[@Tails92Halcmm]

​@playedout148 you know what is an ever higher standard than youtube videos? KZbin comments! Thank you for your amazing, tremendous, and factual comment. I shall carve it into stone

[@jayjordan1957]

I have been fascinated by Nikola Tesla for many years and I like this video because it debunks somethings about his life without being disrespectful.

[@edwardwright8127]

No, Tesla did *not* “have an understanding of science far ahead of his time.” On the contrary, he rejected much of what scientists already knew. He refused to believe in electromagnetic waves. That, in itself, precluded any possibility of Tesla making useful contributions to radio, much less wireless power transmission.

[@timmack2415]

This is far more kind to Tesla than it should be. Although he was a great inventor in his early days, he never invented anything relevant to us today.

[@timrobertson8436]

I was hoping to hear about Tesla's wild theories about the "Aether" to explain physical phenomena. These theories were quite popular in his day are still often cited today as evidence for his status as a legendary and mythical genius whose ideas are still not appreciated or understood by scientists and engineers.

[@1pcfred]

We still don't know where space comes from. We're like goldfish. Swimming in the bowl it is difficult to theorize what's beyond the glass that contains us.

[@timrobertson8436]

​@@1pcfred That does not stop people like Tesla for making claims to scientific knowledge without evidence and the many people who still choose to believe them, against all evidence

[@MariaMartinez-researcher]

They are cited by people who don't know that the aether was debunked many years ago. That's how science works, things are tested, and if the test disproves its existence, they are left behind. That's why no current scientist includes the aether in his calculations.

[@mr.hsukulelechannel4084]

Simon makes a fantastic video debunking the cultish ideas people have about Tesla and most of the comments are preoccupied with the elephant electrocution and where the term "bug" comes from. Not the fact that cherished notions about Tesla being held down by "The Man" are nonsense, or that he really didn't have a firm grasp on reality. Tesla was brilliant, no question. But he also got in his own way over and over again. The stories of Tesla being a victim and Edison being the "big bad" are compelling, but they are just that- stories.

[@rodsprague369]

The phrase "Working the bugs out." does predate computers, clearly.

[@shellycoffey6436]

The film of the Elephant getting electrocuted was recorded as being produced by Edison. That's likely where the rumor started. (Wikipedia resource so do with that what you will) 🔥

[@justinpaul3110]

One of the common complaints about Edison is that he was great at inventing these devices but terrible at figuring out what people would actually be entertained by.😅

[@northdetroit7994]

I have always believed the Edison-elephant myth. TY for setting me staight.

[@Xithar_tri]

Great that you made a video about it. There are so many rumours about him and his inventions, it is good that you shed some light on them

[@stevengrasmeier8427]

gotta love alternating current current

[@lilcwa]

Smart jumper. Good color. 👍🏽

[@RHCole]

This should be sponsored by Decoding the Unknown 👍🏻

[@DaellusKnights]

4:50 - "Okay, then!" 😂😭🤣 Tesla has always been my greatest scientific hero since I was a kid, but he DID have... issues. 😳

[@davidsykes6584]

Nice video, though I feel you probably could have added the story around him, Marconi and the invention of the Radio.

[@launiesoult3248]

I have never looked at that way. That's a really good way of looking at tesla's deal with addison

[@anthonyk597]

Thank you very much for this. There’s so much false information about this. I learnt a lot. Very informative. Cheers.

[@yassassin6425]

Such as?

[@anthonyk597]

​@@yassassin6425 For example that Tesla and Edison were not enemies and no elephant was killed to discredit AC current.

[@TheSwiftCreek2]

Cool. Good to hear. Apparently some other sources are doing the public a disservice.

[@doranosaurus1415]

Yogi Berra said, "Genius is 99% perspiration and the other half is inspiration."

[@littleshopofelectrons4014]

I really enjoyed this video. It was very well researched. Almost everything that you hear about Tesla is wrong. I am the moderator of a Tesla coil group and we are constantly debunking this nonsense. You even debunked a few stories that I had never heard of. Bravo! As far as I can tell this Tesla deification and hero worship started in earnest in the mid-1990s when the internet started to become widespread.

[@MariaMartinez-researcher]

I would say it started with an 80s TV show called "Ripley's Believe It or Not!" hosted by Jack Palance. I vividly remember having watched a segment about this unknown genius called Tesla, and the feeling that he was suppressed by the powers that be. I think that was what started the myth, which later exploded in the Internet.

[@jondeere5638]

Words fail me. 50,000 dollars was mentioned at the time that Tesla found a pet that he loved. People love their pets such as cats and dogs even to the extent that they provide for them in their will. This period was later when Tesla was in his 80s. That means that the 50,000 dollars was already adjusted for inflation. There's just too much here to bother debunking, such as how much money would be lost if the ship were confined to dry-dock? Was Edison in danger of being sued? Or how would you normally kill a rampaging elephant? What are the benefits of killing it in a different way? They just happened to use AC current and there just happened to be a film crew available and the news media just happened to print the story. Anyone want to buy a bridge? Nevertheless, both Edison and Tesla were great men in their own way and I doubt that they hated each other.

[@leewagner4474]

Genius is 1% inspiration, ninety-eight percent perspiration and 2% attention to detail

[@micahphilson]

Cut once, measure... shoot, I forgot to measure again.

[@greenElement]

Too much % given to attention

[@olencone4005]

@@greenElement It's estimated that 6 out of every 5 people have trouble with fractions. 😏

[@iancanty9875]

@@greenElement I think you missed Lee’s joke. The extra 1% highlights the lack of attention to detail.

[@TitularHeroine]

​@@olencone4005 I've heard that three out of four people make up seventy-five percent of the population.

[@sameddy2729]

I guess no one remembers biographics 5 yrs ago : nicholas tesla,: a man before his time, when simon reinforced most of, if not all of these myths 😂

[@TodayIFoundOut]

The TIFO team is the best team. #shotsfired 😋

[@tremorsfan]

It honestly seems ridiculous that they would play the "Who's more dangerous" game. AC or DC if you're touching a live wire then it's going to be a heart stopper.

[@1pcfred]

What happens when you conduct current varies.

[@leviturman1159]

Telephone and telegraph "switches" used to be mechanical. IIRC the term "debugging" predates a "bug" because the mechanical relays would fail due to insects attracted by the waste heat. I still "debug" but its cleaning them out of fans and wave guides.

[@milosminion]

I think it's possible that Edison got the word "bug" not from anything having to do with an insect, but from a more archaic use of the word that refers to ghosts, faries, and the like. A word for frustrating and seemingly unexplainable phenomena would be a perfect fit for what Edison wanted to describe. Around the turn of the century, "bug" was just such a word.

[@ronwilkins4632]

Hi Simon could do a video on the boy scouts that held back the Nazis in WW2. I loved the night witches vid. I have 2 boys in the scouts that would love to hear about them. Thanks

[@jaybestnz]

I wonder how many things get misreported based on diary notes eg it's quite possible that his notes about his fav pigeon were humorous but later taken out of context.

[@RIlianP]

Tesla while proponent of AC current did not invent it (as some claim), the first engine that was using AC current was introduced in 1856 the year Tesla was born. The Edison/Tesla rivalry was touched in the video, but the real rivalry was between Westinghouse (AC) (who was employing Tesla) and Edison (DC). AC won in result Edison was removed from his own company (by J.P. Morgan) and his name was taken out of the its name becoming just General Electric. The same JP Morgan later funded the disastrous Tesla Tower project, convinced by the success of the Tesla coil which was used to improve wireless telegraph signals, invention that was made obsolete couple of years later by Marconi who managed to send wireless signal over the ocean by means of radio waves. Also, while Tesla was very talented electrical engineer, he was never brilliant physicist, as some claim, in fact his understanding on physics was on medieval level, he did not believe in electrons, thought that relativity was pseudo science and even hilariously never believed Hertz's discovered radio waves were a result of electro magnetic vibrations in the air. Most of the data here is from the video Tesla Fact vs. Fiction: Why the Public Perception is Wrong by Kathy Loves Physics & History, which I recommend as it is immeasurable well researched and presented.

[@michaelgrosberg2665]

Tesla was the greatest PR guy who ever lived. Another proof of his misunderstanding of basic physics: he argued that the moon doesn't rotate around itself on its own (it does, at a 1:1 resonance with its orbital period) , and that if flung away from the earth-moon system would immediately stop rotating.

[@mclarenscca]

You ought to talk about the 1859 Carrington event!

[@star_man]

Just how quickly does Simon’s beard grow?! In the thumbnail it’s neatly trimmed, but in the video it looks like it could have wildlife nesting in it! 🤣

[@secretsquirrel1534]

That is due to all of the Brain Pills He Does !!!

[@capslockbusted]

He's been recycling the same few pics if himself in thumbnails for years. It's common for KZbinrs.

[@DMTrance87]

I watch all of your content religiously... awesome brain food when I go about my day and need facts spewed into my ear. Much appreciation. But damn, dude.....I REALLY didn't appreciate the way wireless energy was just glossed over and almost... Dismissed? There were AMAZING examples Tesla demonstrated... And that was just wireless energy at it's most basic absolute infancy. We basically use it as a novelty toy to wirelessly charge our phones these days... Imagine if millions of dollars were dumped into this tech almost a century ago... Do some research.... There's gotta be a Sideprojects video or something there

[@jameshart2622]

I'm sorry that you believe that wireless tech like that would be useful. By the time Tesla developed that, physicists and electrical engineers knew perfectly well that it was possible. The math is straightforward. It's also stupidly impractical, and unlikely to ever be used more than wires..

[@jaybestnz]

This is so heartwarming. I loved both inventors but was so saddened to hear that Edison had supposedly treated Tesla poorly.

[@StanSwan]

Edison was a real inventor. Tessy did not invent AC and most of of ideas where stupid.

[@jaybestnz]

@@StanSwan Hmmm.. Tesla coils and AC are in almost everything, and no one could solve them before him.

[@StanSwan]

@@jaybestnz He did not invent AC and what "coils" are you talking about? The silly stuff used in monster films that have no practical use?

[@coreyano]

Almost died from illness as a teenager and then lived in the mountains for a while. Dam.

[@somesicilian5420]

I must say mr whistlemiester the beard is looking glorious

[@morganlee2806]

It's about time for a video like this. People on the Internet think he invented literally everything, that every idea he ever had was legit, that every word he ever spoke was truth, and that the only reason he was "underappreciated" was because he was this sweet, sensitive, shy little man who was perpetually taken advantage of by evil, corrupt industrialists. I'm still waiting for the story to pop up where he used his time machine to go back in time to die for our sins. That wouldn't even be out of place among the myriad of myths surrounding him.

[@Antifag1977]

How dare you blaspheme Tesla? For he is the way, the truth and the light! The Emmanuel - god among us! . You're gonna burn!!!

[@robertyee6563]

More Tesla Fanboys need to watch Simon's videos.

[@theequitableearl5609]

He was right about electricity and the weapon you described is in development if not in use being developed using Teslas workings as have many other things

[@MariaMartinez-researcher]

Considering that at his time he said he had it already working, considering all the time that has passed, and considering all the wars that have happened since Tesla's times, it's extremely unlikely that the weapon has ever been possible to develop, and certainly has never been put in use. The last time we saw a weapon of supreme mass destruction was Hiroshima and Nagasaki (atomic bombs, we know because of all the radiation sickness deaths). Right now there is a war in process (Russian invasion of Ukraine), and the most advanced weapons mentioned have been Putin threatening to use nuclear bombs stocked in Belarus, and the USA giving Ukraine cluster bombs (which are highly destructive, but not nuclear, nor a death ray). Reality says that, if any power had ever developed Tesla's idea, we would have seen the effects in wars ending quickly by the sudden slaughter of millions of people. Every soldier that has come home has talked of exhausting campaigns and killing enemies one by one by hand, or in larger groups using conventional bombings.

[@nick.p.9328]

4:25 I think it might not be literally a pigeon, but a metaphor for someone, after being with many people (feeding many pigeons). Since he says it's "as a man loves a woman, maybe it was another man, or a child (which would be horrible but we'll never know).

[@nogarden7274]

Tesla pitching a remote driven boat to the military and having them turn it down is rich irony

[@spinnymathingy3149]

Definitely there is More myths that fact when it comes to Tesla. “Kathy loves physics and history “ chanel tells the detailed story

[@lethalinflection]

I prefer to believe that it's "Call-Bell-um" in reference to Alexander Graham Bell. Sure sounds like a bug genus! I paused this & went to Google before I even heard Simon finish, haha

[@DuelScreen]

The use of the term "bug" as a glitch in electrical equipment is curious. I assumed the first computer bug was a literal bug from 1945 or 1947 that had interfered with a cathode ray tube and caused a short. The researched who discovered the insect's corpse taped it to the report. You can find images of this online by searching for "first computer bug". But this reference from Tesla predates that by decades so there is more to be discovered I think.

[@daniel635biturbo]

That is also the description I've come across. I think from Bletchley park in England, during the end of the war In the morning, they did "debugging", actually cleaning the tubes and electronics from butterflies that came in through the night.

[@SteelSkin667]

The report states "first actual case of a bug being found", implying that they were already referring to errors as bugs, but that amusingly that one time it was caused by an actual bug.

[@lirrobinson8377]

All these myths of Tesla have given rise to the Cult of Tesla.

[@MrThrowUps]

oh so that hotel he lived in, which i also lived in MANY YEARS AFTER him, made him mental too? oh gee...

[@Nic_Holas]

Best Edison video ever: In 1912, the Nobel Committee announced that Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison were the recipients of the Physics Prize; instead, the prize went to Gustav Dalen. Details of the reversal are unclear but it is known that Tesla refused the prize (and the $20,000 that came with it).

[@Coup0705]

This is fake news

[@timmack2415]

Dude speaks at 90 words per minute with gusts of 125

[@kennyteeology3526]

Wireless and free energy equal wind and sunlight.

[@dominikdobrotic8298]

"If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration." Tesla, you had no idea how spot on u were

[@enadegheeghaghe6369]

I am not even sure Tesla made that statement. LOL

[@joewinter3940]

The 50 grand joke could reflect that some geniuses lack social skills, so Tesla likely took his managers offer as solid word. It's not uncommon to be like that when your life revolves around facts instead of sarcasm. As for the pigeon, I can't blame him for loving it more than humanity at the time.

[@nicholaslewis8594]

But he didn’t mention it in anything from the time and only first mentions it when going insane?

[@billvill2192]

Explain the Carrington Event

[@m.c.4674]

A beam of particles doesn't seem implausible , if the beam of particles / metal sand are concentrated along a narrow path they should be able to travel many miles . This would better than laser , because laser drop in intensity very rapidly . A technology like that most likely would be defensive , because it would require a lot of power , which means that it can't be transported to attack enemy nations .

[@doclewis8927]

16:04 ~ It's kind of hard to do nurmerology if you don't have all of your letters. The alphabet is missing "J" and "U". The chart also has 2 each of "I" and "V". Bizarre. I have some books on numerology and everyone seems to associate different numbers for the letters so I'm not sure how you could ever put any "faith" into any of it.

[@MariaMartinez-researcher]

Even less faith if you consider that the Spanish language has letter ñ, and used to have letters ch and ll. French has ç. Other European languages have other variations. And, of course, there are Greek and Cyrillic alphabets, Hebrew, Arabic, Indian languages, Thai, Korean, AND, languages using concept characters like Chinese and Japanese. Numerology is not a science. At most is a belief, based in whim.

[@D.Jay.]

Tesla was great at taking recently published theories and inventions in europe, that took credited leaders in their fields of study decades to create, and slapping together similar work over night and publishing in America

[@thelovacluka]

you ignorant trd

[@malectric]

Just a side note about Tesla's idea for world-wide energy transmission, the main objection from investors seemed to be that there was no way to bill users for the power received, never mind the impracticality of the scheme due to transmission losses.

[@andreasschmitt2307]

If you talk about this well known J.P. Morgan story, that's also a myth. According to Tesla's autobiography Morgan was never an investor in any of Tesla's projects but supported him without business interest.

[@andrewrichardson2293]

Gotta ask, is there any actual real use for a Tesla coil? I agree they’re cool to watch and that it’s neat how small the principles can be shrank down to but I can’t think of any technology or utility that relies on their existence.

[@toddkloos3965]

Tesla coils are radio transmitters, they were the main method used to produce radio waves up until the 1920s. Actually, Tesla wasn't the first person to create a Tesla coil, but he might have been the first to realize its practical applications. Tesla's popularization of the Tesla coil became an important step in the development of the first radios. This might actually be Tesla's most important contribution to technology, especially when you consider that his motor wasn't very efficient or practical and he wasn't the first person to invent it.

[@SandeePrakash]

I am from india and I know and feel that what nikola tesla was

[@soundrider7025]

Fun fact: the word "tesla" which the Tesla family was named after is actually a wood working tool.

[@StoryLoreStudio]

Quick answer, absolutely.