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Einstein, von Braun and Tesla

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posted on Dec, 1 2005 @ 07:01 PM
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I think Einstein was smarter, but I think Tesla did a lot more that was practical. (I don't know much about Braun) People have already mentioned most of Tesla's contributions, like in radio theory (he beat Marconi to that) and AC power distribution (where he proved he was smarter than Edison, lol).

Einstein came up with a lot of really esoteric stuff that, while extremely complicated and difficult to conceive of, does little in the way of practical technology. Relativistic effects are used to improve radar accuracy, for example, but, generally speaking, his discoveries don't affect the everyday person in the way Tesla's do.



posted on Dec, 1 2005 @ 08:11 PM
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Originally posted by Hal9000

I think the reason we are not taught about him in school is because he was not a natural born American. He emigrated from Croatia.



I think it has to go deeper then that Einstein was born in Ulm,Germany. Von Braun was also born in Germany.



posted on Dec, 1 2005 @ 08:28 PM
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As a space buff I have to say Von Braun hands down. After all he was the only German to lead men into the united states fire a large explosive rocket in america and manage to attack mexico all during WWII.


(thats always a funny story with the US V2 rocket tests)



posted on Dec, 1 2005 @ 08:31 PM
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Heh, after readin a story about him on Wikipedia my respect had greatly increased for this man, kind of like the underdog, never taken quite seriously.

Now it will be hard to chose between Tesla and von Braun.



posted on Dec, 1 2005 @ 08:41 PM
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Originally posted by ShadowXIX

Originally posted by Hal9000
I think the reason we are not taught about him in school is because he was not a natural born American. He emigrated from Croatia.

I think it has to go deeper then that Einstein was born in Ulm,Germany. Von Braun was also born in Germany.


Well surprisingly I'm not an american but a Proud Englishman and our school system from what i recall of it didnt ever touch on the subject of tesla yet einstein,edison and marconi where all talked about. I would say that if u asked an avergae joe on the street who invented electricity ( in the form that we use 24/7) i would say 70% would say edison and if you asked them who tesla was they would look at you with a blank expression. The names that pop up in this subject are the peek of human advancement theres always gonna be a differing viewpoint my view is based solely on personal hands on activity. Tesla's inventions are all around us in 1 form of another yet very little is known by the human herd of him or his inventions. Yet Einstein although up there with tesla was more the thinking mans idol dreaming up major theories and answers to previously incomprehensible subjects. Of course Einstein could possibly in the future be the bigger man but at this present age Tesla is the bigger man in terms of human life.



posted on Dec, 1 2005 @ 08:56 PM
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I agree, but why this historical bias towards Tesla? It had to be more then where he was born.

I picked Einstien because they asked who was your favorite not who invented more stuff we use today. If I could pick one of those 3 guys to hang out with for a day it would Einstein. I have the greatest respect for Tesla's inventions but Tesla was a weirdo in his personal life among other things he was apparently a lifelong celibate.



posted on Dec, 1 2005 @ 09:45 PM
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Originally posted by ShadowXIX
I agree, but why this historical bias towards Tesla? It had to be more then where he was born.

Your right it does go deeper than that. Tesla was not as popular because he went head to head with the homeboy Edison. And later in life was rather eccentric. He wasn't the ideal model hero that some other figures were. With that in mind and not being a native-born American, I think is probably why he is not as well known.



posted on Dec, 1 2005 @ 09:58 PM
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Edison waged an incredible PR campaign against Tesla. Tesla was a scientist, while Edison was a jerk. I mean a marketing specialist. An advertiser. A total jerk.

Edison invented the lightbulb, true. Did he do it by taking current scientific theory and applying it practically? Heck no, he just kept putting an electrical charge through anything he could find until he discovered a metal filiment would glow. Electrical theory, even then, knew better than to think string was an electrical conductor. Edison's genius was in marketing his stuff and himself. In that he was in direct competition with Tesla, Edison evicerated the guy. It was only recently that people started looking past the PR and seeing how incredible Tesla was.

So my opinion would be Tesla still has this aura about him that Edison worked very hard to create. An effective negative PR campaign can destroy even the most noble of people.



posted on Dec, 1 2005 @ 10:09 PM
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i must admit over all the stuff ive read about tesla the autism angle is starting to really interest me more and more. It kinda makes you wonder who was the smarter man, practical wise tesla hands down but if he did have autism it makes it all the more phenomenal.



posted on Dec, 1 2005 @ 10:12 PM
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I will have to follow the group on this one, Tesla is my choice. I am biased because a few years back i studied mostly everything i could find about Tesla. I wont go through and quote all the inventions he made as most people have already done so. Dont want to be regurgitating other people.

Anywho one of the intresting things i read about tesla, although it wasnt from the most realiable source. It claimed that when he had his huge tesla coil set up, i forget where he got the funding. Anywho the site claimed that he was trying to provide free electricity throughout the whole world by sending a electric currunt through the earth ground. Then it would go all the way around the world and rebound on itself and go back the other way.
He would test the time it would take for the current to reach back around the world to the same spot. Anywho this test is why alot of people claim all of the conspiracy stuff about tesla and why after he died like 75% of his notes and works were taking by the FBI. The rest was sent back to a tesla musuem in his home country.

Anyway Tesla i think is the most generaly un-known of the 3, and yet he was the greatest inventor (by my standard) of all time. I think we owe tesla more than he gets.



posted on Dec, 1 2005 @ 10:28 PM
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Rather ambiguos question. They are all great in their own field. Einstein explained the universe we live in. Tesla made our lives easier. And von Braun used jews as slave labourers to build V2 rockets that were launched towards Great Britain.



posted on Dec, 2 2005 @ 06:27 AM
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Vaun Braun hated the fact that jew were being "slaves" at penemunede when Hitler commissioned him to work on the Vengance weapon. If you read a detailed account of his life you can eaisly see how it made him verry depressed to work there.



posted on Dec, 2 2005 @ 06:37 AM
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Originally posted by Hal9000
Supposedly Tesla did have a death ray, and thought it would be the weapon that would end all wars. So the story goes, it was what caused the Tanguska explosion in 1908, and he said it was too powerful and dismantled it. But I highly doubt that is what happened. The explosion was caused by a meteor.

I think the reason we are not taught about him in school is because he was not a natural born American. He emigrated from Croatia.

Here is more info on him
inventors.about.com...


"In 1904, in Colorado Springs, he built a big power generator for his wireless power transmission experiments. Using what he called ‘terrestrial stationary waves,’ he lit two hundred light bulbs twenty-five miles away by pumping juice into the ground, no wires. He could generate artificial lightning bolts of a couple to three hundred thousand watts that were more than a hundred and thirty-five feet long; you could hear the thunder fifteen miles away in town. He was waaay ahead of his time, so he certainly had the smarts and gear to knock down a few trees. Russia has researched on Nikola Tesla's theories for many decades. You must read the complete and startling detailed information on the Tunguska River explosion. " See these links:

prometheus.al.ru...
www.tfcbooks.com...
www.tfcbooks.com...

Tesla is "The man"!

One more Link:

www.galisteo.com...

[edit on 2-12-2005 by thermopolis]



posted on Dec, 2 2005 @ 06:51 AM
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I have seen all the stories on the death ray. Supposedly Tesla was going to demonstrate it's ability when Robert E. Perry was attempting to reach the North Pole (which he did in April of 1909). The story says that Tesla sent a message to Perry to look for something while near the pole, but the ray overshot the North Pole and hit Tanguska. The Tanguska explosion occurred on June 30, 1908. But Perry did not leave to reach the North Pole until Mid July, so the dates do not match. So I don't think he had anything to do with it. Other investigations into the explosion have concluded it was a airborne explosion of a meteor.



posted on Dec, 2 2005 @ 07:03 AM
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Originally posted by wang
Anywho after he died like 75% of his notes and works were taking by the FBI.


I've heard this as well, also that equations of his are still considered classified even today.

My vote would go to Tesla, hands down.



posted on Dec, 2 2005 @ 11:55 AM
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Originally posted by junglejake
Yeah, but next time you beam up to the space station, thank Einstein


Tesla knew far more about eletromagnetics and his core understanding of that field is what enabled most of his inventions. Eistein ran a great PR campaign and surely was no moron but compared to Tesla ( and for that matter Maxwell) he should really not even be talked about! That is my opinion at least.


Stellar



posted on Dec, 2 2005 @ 04:07 PM
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Nikola Tesla is THE MAN!

The brilliance of Einstien is over-rated. (Don't get me wrong. The dude was a genius by all means.)

Werner von Braun, as good a leader in the NASA program he was, he did get all his knowledge from the great American known as Robert Goddard.

Tesla on, the other hand, was a "hands on" genius. His inventions really are the ones that changed the world. No theories there. Marconi and Edison both "stole" recognition and glory from the humble Hungarian(bastards).


Rock on Tesla-dude!



posted on Dec, 2 2005 @ 05:48 PM
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Even though von Braun worked for the Nazi's I can forgive him for that, but I always loved to hear the stories of him coming with new ideas on technologies he invisioned so long ago that never really materialized, something you would find in science fiction like hovercars and such.

Tesla is a great man, he reminds me of Howard Hughes' quirkyness since they were both OCD and both excellent iventors and visionaries, I personally have Aspergers syndrom which is related to Autism and probably OCD as well.

All in All, I love all three, Tesla even more than before after some reading up on the man, hence me starting this thread.



posted on Dec, 2 2005 @ 07:45 PM
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Originally posted by Hal9000
The Tanguska explosion occurred on June 30, 1908. But Perry did not leave to reach the North Pole until Mid July, so the dates do not match. So I don't think he had anything to do with it.


Hmm... maybe the ray traveled so fast that it occurred half a month earlier than when he shot it? Einstein's theories could prove that possible, right?


Seriously, though... I have to go with Tesla. He has influenced how I think about stuff as early as 5th grade when my friend showed me his science project... a Tesla Coil (btw, I am turning 30 in less than a month... give you an idea about how long I've known about Tesla). Wes showed me all his demonstarations... lighting flourescent bulbs from a distance, etc... it was the first thing that sparked my interest in technology... up until that point I was more into Geology, which I have come to realize in recent years, actually has some strong ties...

Anyways, Tesla for sure... I wish I could get my hands on his "classified" stuff, as many others would


[edit on 2-12-2005 by Earthscum]



posted on Dec, 2 2005 @ 08:01 PM
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Quite clearly the only possible answer here is Einstein. The three major papers he published in 1905 changed the world forever. He changed our perception of the universe with special relativity and his explanation of the photoelectric effect, and he proved the existence of the atom with his work on brownian motion.

While Tesla's work was of great importance I believe that everything he discovered would have been done anyway. The idea that one other man would have been able to do what Einstein did in 1905 and then to follow it up with his (arguably) even more important work in 1916 is ridiculous (to me at least).
Einstein's work lead directly to the production of the laser, the use of functional satelite telecommunications, improved gyroscopes for use in spaceflight/aeroplanes, the development of quantum theory which lead to most modern microprocessor based technology, Einstein is basically the man that our whole civilisation is built on.

Don't get me wrong I'm not saying that any of what I have mentioned mightn't have happened anyway or that he was the only person doing work in the areas he published in but he was the man who was able to put everything together.

As for von Braun, I really don't know why he's in the list, men like Fermi, Bohr, Rutherford, Pauling, Dirac, Pauli, a virtually endless list of early/mid 20th century scientists, had a greater impact than him. He's famous for one thing, being able to design rockets. But maybe that's just me showing my bias towards theory?







 
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