BruceZ
04-04-2003, 08:01 AM
A sub-thread sprung up below about these two men. It seems that Tesla completely missed the boat concerning Einstein's theories. He did not believe in either special or general relativity, claiming that the curvature of space was absurd, and that he had his own theory of gravity that he would release but never did. He also stated that atomic energy was not possible, and that he had smashed atoms without seeing any release of energy. He died 2 years before the atomic bombs in Japan, and about a month after Fermi's first chain reaction at the University of Chicago (I just discovered that). Many experiments have since confirmed special relativity and general relativity as well. They are about as "proven" as any scientific theories can be, especially special relativity. Tesla was a great man, but he also had unbounded confidence and was dead wrong about a number of things.
Tesla could also be mean, and this will contribute to our debate about the necessity of being nice to be successful. Here is an exerpt from Tesla, Man out of Time:
Tesla displayed occasional streaks of cruelty that seemed motivated by likes and dislikes of an almost compulsive sort. Fat people disgusted him, and he made little effort to conceal his feelings. One of his secretaries was in his opinion too fat. Once she awkwardly knocked something off a table and he fired her. She pleaded with him on plump knees to change his mind but he refused to do so. He had a favorite joke about two of his ancient aunts that centered on the fact that both were sublimely ugly.
He could be equally imperious about his subordinantes' clothes. A secretary might spend half a months earnings on a new dress, and he would criticize it, ordering her to go home and change it before delivering a message to one of his important banker friends.
Tesla could also be mean, and this will contribute to our debate about the necessity of being nice to be successful. Here is an exerpt from Tesla, Man out of Time:
Tesla displayed occasional streaks of cruelty that seemed motivated by likes and dislikes of an almost compulsive sort. Fat people disgusted him, and he made little effort to conceal his feelings. One of his secretaries was in his opinion too fat. Once she awkwardly knocked something off a table and he fired her. She pleaded with him on plump knees to change his mind but he refused to do so. He had a favorite joke about two of his ancient aunts that centered on the fact that both were sublimely ugly.
He could be equally imperious about his subordinantes' clothes. A secretary might spend half a months earnings on a new dress, and he would criticize it, ordering her to go home and change it before delivering a message to one of his important banker friends.