Member-only story
Capitalism
The War of Current Innovation
What If Edison Embraced Tesla?
Welcome to the War
Anyone familiar with the legendary rivalry between Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla may have heard both fascinating and horrific anecdotes. For instance, did Edison really electrocute a circus elephant just for a competitive edge? Did Nikola Tesla work for Edison, and was dismissed by Edison when he presented his alternating current idea? Should Elon Musk have named his Tesla EVs after a man that had nothing to do with battery technology or innovation, but his nemesis did? These are all great questions, let’s start at the beginning.
History of a Rivalry
Nikola Tesla was born on July 10, 1856, in Smiljan, a small village in what is now Croatia. From a young age, he exhibited an extraordinary aptitude for mathematics and engineering, which eventually led him to his first job with the Continental Edison Company in Paris. It was here that Tesla began to develop his revolutionary ideas about alternating current (AC).
However, his relationship with Thomas Edison, the famed inventor and proponent of direct current (DC), quickly soured. Tesla envisioned a more efficient form of energy production that could be distributed over long distances with little energy lost…
