Michael Faraday was a little nervous as he began discussing what he was working on. The crisply dressed mustachioed man he was speaking with was a representative of the British government, and Faraday needed his help. He was carrying on the 6th century BCE legacy of Thales of Miletus, who had noticed that when you rubbed animal fur on amber, you could seemingly defy gravity by picking up lighter materials like a feather, and lifting it off the ground.
I’ve always wondered whether it’s true what they say about Nikola Tesla, namely that we would be far more advanced technologically if we had followed his ideas about electricity instead if Edison et al.
I think that "what if" could go a lot of different directions. I think in some ways, we needed an Edison - a popularizer of new technology- to get the flywheel rolling, to get interest raised and investment money coming in, and so on.
The question I usually ask nowadays is different: what if Tesla had had a quarter of Edison's salesmanship?
He also built a cage to protect things from his finding.
Faraday was the Neil DeGrasse Tyson of his time- he gave many public lectures explaining science to the general public, particularly to children.
Popularizing science is such an important, noble thing to do.
Mankind benefited so much from Faraday. It's amazing that it all came from rubbing animal fur on amber.
All great things have humble beginnings, especially if you go back far enough!
I’ve always wondered whether it’s true what they say about Nikola Tesla, namely that we would be far more advanced technologically if we had followed his ideas about electricity instead if Edison et al.
I think that "what if" could go a lot of different directions. I think in some ways, we needed an Edison - a popularizer of new technology- to get the flywheel rolling, to get interest raised and investment money coming in, and so on.
The question I usually ask nowadays is different: what if Tesla had had a quarter of Edison's salesmanship?