History, they say, is written by the victors, but that's cold comfort to the men and women x-ed out by the editor's pen. For years, science textbooks equatedelectricityand light with one man,Thomas Edison, while the genius whose pioneering electrical technologies truly power the modern world languished as a minor note in scientific history, sandwiched between Edward Teller and Thales of Miletus.
Before the turn of the 20th century, electricity remained a mere scientific curiosity -- one that many doubted would ever do an honest day's work. Nikola Tesla, arguably more than anyone else, changed that, but his pioneering research in electricity represents only a portion of the scientific and technical innovations that elevated him to science godhood.
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Tesla not only expanded and revolutionized the work of his predecessors; he also leapfrogged ahead of his contemporaries to the next step, and the next. But, just as it takes more than groundbreaking music to give rise to a rock god, we think it takes more than innovative breakthroughs and amazing machines to make a scientific one. We'd argue that such a figure must also possess intriguing facets -- qualities like eccentricity, vision and the will to suffer for science. Nikola Tesla was such a man.