Every now and again I try to post something on the history of science, technology, or math - at least in the areas where I've spent time with primary sources or history of science and technology classes. My first director at Bell Labs was big on the history of science and engineering, encouraging us to take a series of courses offered at Rutgers. Such courses are important, but far too rare. One counts as one of my favorite undergrad classes: 'Engineering disasters of the first part of the 20th century'.
My problem is keeping such pieces short and to the point. Nikola Tesla is someone I've started writing about at least three times before bailing as there was too much for an hour or so of writing. Another issue is much of the folklore is wrong. As an electrical engineer he was incredibly intuitive, but his understanding of the underlying physics was often somewhere between wrong and batsh*t crazy. It seemed like to much to deal with.
This short video on Tesla touches the high points and is consistent with a course I had along with a lot of reading from the period. The course was great. Looking at the period from from from Michael Faraday through Philo Farnsworth, it touched on the physics, engineering and the business interests that drove the middle and later parts of the period. Describing the period as colorful would be understatement.
Reality doesn't diminish my respect for Tesla - it's just he wasn't what popular myth suggests. And a side note. I spent about three years at Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island. The remains of the old Tesla tower is nearby, protected by a too easily scaled fence:-)
To the video - it's a short must-watch piece.
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