Edison's inventions were of more practical use at the time of their creation (mainly the lightbulb,among others), however the ideas that Tesla had come up with were so beyond their time that we are still talking about them today. Basically, Tesla is like an unsung hero of the world of invention, while Edison was much more of bussinessman and was much more successful than Tesla with his inventions because of it.
Very true. Tesla's inventions preceded anything of the time. He talked of atomic weapons and a "death ray" that could "annihalate 10,000 planes from 500 miles away". I don't see any $40,000 elecric car being named after Edison. There was an interesting article I read about Tesla published in a magazine, the article being titled "The Lost Wizard" that described his inventions.
Who do people think was the superior inventor: Thomas Edison or Nicola Tesla?
For those unfamiliar, some background:
Edison, as most of us know (most of us, I was in a department store and someone said to a clerk "do you have any Einstein costumes", and she said, "he invented the light bulb, right?"), invented the light bulb, and many other things. Tesla worked for Edison for a time, and would surely have invented the light bulb if Edison hadn't done so, historians speculate. Tesla invented the AC (alternating current), which was superior to Edison's DC (direct current). Edison tarnished his old partner's reputation by electrocuting a 1-ton elephant with Tesla's invented current, giving it a bad reputation. Make of that what you will.
At any rate, there is much controversy over who was the superior inventor. Thoughts?