-Caveat Lector-
I thank the poster for posting these excerpts from the Seifer book. I
have read in the past both the O'Neil book and the Cheney books on
Tesla. I have also read two books on Edison. As a child I read Trevelyn
Miller's book and later I read the book "Streak of Luck". I also read
part of a books called "Tesla Speaks" which was supposedly channeled
from many great scientist of the past including Tesla and Edison.
However, this book was proven to me to be a fake. In it "Edison"
apologizes from the "other side" for stealing Tesla's inventions
including the light bulb. However, in that very book are short
biographies of each and if you study them you will notice that Edison
could not have stolen the light bulf from Tesla because Tesla had not
moved from Europe at that time. In fact, I don't believe he even spoke
english at the time. So, obviously the whole thing must be untrue. The
question that entered my mind, however, was who was behind this
falsehood. Did it come from another plain or was it purposely introduced
into the world consciousness? And, if so, why?
more below
Das GOAT wrote:
>
> -Caveat Lector-
>
> First in a series of excerpts from:
>
> "Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla --
> Biography of A Genius," by Marc J. Seifer,
> 1996, Birch Lane Press, Carol Publishing Group
> ISBN 1-55972-329-7
>
> Seifer's biography of Tesla, making use of documents not
> available to previous biographers, manages to debunk the Tesla
> "myth" (regarding, for example, his reputed "spirituality" and
> his public "celibacy") and to expose Tesla's unsavory political
> leanings (citing FBI files), yet without sacrificing the respect
> justly due the inventor's extraordinary accomplishments.
***
In my opinion, the above has some misrepresentations in the
characterization the book portray. "Debunk is a rather strong term. It
should be more like "illuminate" or "brings to light" a greater
understanding of these aspects of Tesla. My respect for him was not
diminished greatly by reading this information. It helped me to know the
man better and respect him more. For I realized more truly that he was a
man like all of us. A man how had a tremendous struggle, yet achieved
great feats. But, at the same time, to recognize the short comings which
kept him from even greater achievements and greater personal happiness.
> (Along with learning more about his proposed "free energy"
> system, the reader will here discover that Tesla, a pioneer in
> Robotics, was also the father of Artificial Intelligence.)
> Seifer manages to reveal a great deal more about Tesla's
> relationships with Thomas Edison, famous capitalists like J. P.
> Morgan, and less familiar figures active during the turn of the
> century, when a virtual explosion of new technologies resulted in
> centralization of all financial power in the hands of just a few
> "titans of industry," owners of the entire US economy.
***
Though the centralization problem is covered in the book it is not as
well explained as the above seems to indicate.
> (Here we will see the Morgan-Astor and Rockefeller-Harriman
> factions at work, learn their attitudes toward new technology,
> and smell corruption at the roots of all our modern industries.)
> This book offers quite an enlightening portrait of "the
> spirit of the times," one similar to our own in many ways ...
***
> _____________________________________________________
>
> PART I
>
> ... In 1880, Tesla left for Bohemia (now in the Czech
> Republic) ... Tesla enrolled in the University of Prague, one of
> the foremost institutions in Europe ...
> Just two years after Tesla's stay, Harvard psychologist
> William James would come to visit, to meet with [its rector,
> Ernst] Mach and Mach's archrival, Carl Stumpf ... Stumpf was a
> student of the controversial ex-priest Franz Brentano (who also
> influenced Sigmund Freud) and Tesla's philosophy teacher.
> Stumpf opposed a number of key psychophysicists, including
> the famed Wilhelm Wundt, but at the same time he helped shape the
> thinking of a number of key students, such as phenomonologist
> Edmund Husserl and Gestalt psychologist Wolfgang Kohler.
> With Stumpf, Tesla studied Scotish philosopher David Hume.
> A persuasive advocate of Hume's "radical skepticism," Stumpf
> argued ... that the human mind was born a blank slate, a "tabula
> rasa" ... Through the sense organs, Tesla learned, the brain
> mechanically recorded incoming data. The mind, according to
> Hume, was nothing more than a simple compilation of cause-and-
> effect sensations ... The will and "even the soul [were] reduced
> by Hume to impressions and associations of impressions." Tesla
> also studied the theories of Descartes, who envisioned animals,
> including man, as simply "automata incapable of actions other
> than those characteristic of a machine."
> This line of thinking would dominate Tesla's worldview and
> served as the template for a mechanistic paradigm that would lead
> the inventor to discover his most original creations ...
***
Walter Russell is later mentioned as being a friend and influence to
Tesla and his view is very different. Tesla's interest in Eastern
philosophy and religion seems to indicate that the above view may have
not been what Tesla believed throughout his life. Also, I believe, that
his "template" was far broader. And, I believe that it was through this
template that he was able to go so far beyond most scientist in seeing possibilities.
> --p. 18-19
>
> Tesla emphasized that his concept [of alternating current,
> AC, using rotating magnetic fields] involved new principles
> rather than refinements of preexisting work ...
> [But] was Tesla the first to conceive of a rotating magnetic
> field? The answer is no.
> The first workable rotating magnetic field similar to
> Tesla's 1882 revelation was conceived three years before him by
> Walter Baily, who demonstrated the principle before the Physical
> Society of London on June 28, 1879 ...
> Two years later, at the Paris Exposition of 1881, came the
> work of Marcel Deprez, who calculated "that a rotating magnetic
> field could be produced ... by energizing electromagnets with two
> out-of-step AC currents."
> A question that remains unanswered was whether or not Tesla
> knew of Baily's work. It is quite possible that he had read
> Baily's paper, although no one at the time, including Baily,
> comprehended the importance of the research or understood how to
> turn it into a practical invention ...
> --pp. 24-25
>
> With the backing of Wall Street moguls, Edison began to
> illuminate the private homes of the wealthy in New York City.
> The first was that of J. P. Morgan ... The year was 1881.
> Tesla's ship dropped anchor in New York in late spring of
> 1884 ... He proceeded cautiously to Edison's new laboratory ...
> [Edison's British partner, Charles] Batchelor probably met Tesla
> and introduced him to the inventor ...
> Tesla realized that his academic training and mathematical
> skills had given him a great engineering advantage over Edison's
> plodding strategy of trial and error. Tesla said: "... I was
> almost a sorry witness ... knowing that just a little theory and
> calculation would have saved him 90 per cent of the labor ..."
> Tesla was completely unsuccessful in describing his new AC
> invention to Edison and had to settle for Batchelor's suggestion
> that he redesign the prevailing DC machinery instead ...
> [Entrepreneur Harry] Livor boasted of an agreement with
> Edison and Batchelor resulting in a company capitalized at
> $10,000 ... Impressed, Tesla asked for advice [on] how to obtain
> a raise from his present modest salary of $18 per week to a more
> lucrative $25.
> "Livor gladly undertook ... to intercede with Batchelor [on
> Tesla's behalf]... but greatly to his surprise was met with an
> abrupt refusal."
> "No," replied Batchelor, "the woods are full of men like
> [Tesla]; I can get any number of them I want for $18 a week."
> It was well within Edison's nature to make "expensive if
> indefinite promises of rewards as a way of getting the men to
> work for low wages."
> According to Tesla, "The manager had promised me $50,000 on
> completion of [the round-the-clock task of redesigning Edison's
> DC machinery], but when I demanded payment, he merely laughed."
>
> "You're still [so European]," Edison [explained]. "When you
> become a full-fledged American, you'll come to appreciate the
> American [sense of humor]."
> Deeply hurt, Tesla left the [Edison] company and set out on
> his own.
> --pp. 32-39
****
Note that this episode is often brought up as evidence of Edison's
malicious ways. It well may be true but we only have their own words to
verify the story. Nothing apparently was written down or the papers
might have been placed into the courts. It may also be that Tesla did
not understand Edison, etc. We will never know. However, we do see that
Tesla failed to learn from this experience in one respect. He seems to
have not made clear agreement in future dealings with his backers. And,
the agreements he did make, Tesla did not follow. So there was a
consistent pattern of Tesla poor definition in his agreements. This, I
believe was a major factor in causing his future problems. The book goes
into this in greater detail and I think that that is its major value.
For from this we can learn.
>
> Although Tesla felt cheated when he departed from the Edison
> Nachine Works in the early months of 1885, it had enabled him ...
> to organize his own company ...
> The inventor met with B. A. Vail and Robert Lane, two
> businessmen from New Jersey. With ambiguous assurances that they
> were also interested in the AC motor, Tesla agreed to form a
> lighting and manufacturing company ... Unfortunately, neither
> Vail nor Lane cared about Tesla's other creation. To them, an AC
> motor was a seemingly useless invention ...
> To his shock, Tesla was forced out of his own concern and
> handed "the hardest blow I ever received."
> "With no other possession than a beautifully engraved
> certificate of stock of hypothetical value," the inventor was
> bankrupted. Betrayed by men he trusted, [Tesla] was forced to
> work as a ditchdigger ...
***
Again he is not clear in his understanding of what others want from him.
> Tesla's crisis abated in the spring. He was introduced to
> Alfred S. Brown, a prominent engineer who worked for Western
> Union Telegraph Company, who himself held a number of patents on
> arc lights ... Well aware of the limitations of the prevailing DC
> apparatus, he became immediately impressed with the "merits' of
> Tesla's AC inventions and thereupon contacted Charles F. Peck, "a
> distinguished lawyer" [who] "knew of the failures in the
> industrial exploitation of alternating currents ..."
> Together, the three men formed a new electric company in
> Tesla's name.
> Peck, who [did business with] a banker with connections to
> J. P. Morgan, provided the bulk of the capital; Brown provided
> technical expertise and [arranged for] the laboratory. In
> return, Tesla agreed to split his patents on a fifty-fifty basis
> ... Their first patent was filed on April 30, 1887.
> Finally, Tesla had arrived. He would begin an unprecedented
> excursion into the field of invention, a flow of intense activity
> which would continue unabated for fifteen years ... driven by his
> wish to maintain priority in a variety of areas and realizing
> that new technologies could influence the course of history ...
> --pp. 40-43
>
> Although [capitalist] George Westinghouse had made his
> fortune with the invention of air brakes for trains, he was not
> just a railroad man. He was a descendant of the aristocratic
> Russian family, Von Wistinghousen ...
> Westinghouse wrote, "If the Tesla patents are broad enough
> to control the alternating motor business, then the Westinghouse
> Electric Company cannot afford to have others own the patent."
> Concerning royalties, he wrote, "If it is the only method
> for operating a motor by the alternating current, and if it is
> applicable to streetcar work, we can [simply pass on to] users of
> the apparatus whatever [costs we owe] the inventors."
> In late July 1888, Tesla took a train to Pittsburgh to meet
> with Westinghouse and finalize the sale of his patents.
> Westinghouse had QUADRUPLED the sales of his electric
> company [in ONE YEAR] -- from $800,00 in 1887 to over $3 million
> in 1888 -- even though he was in the midst of expensive legal and
> propaganda battles with Edison.
***
Notice that Westinghouse was already in a battle with Edison before
Tesla joined with him.
> Westinghouse offered Tesla $5000 in cash for a sixty-day
> option, $10,000 at the end of the option if they elected to
> purchase the patents ... $2.50 per watt in royalties, and two
> hundred shares of stock in the Westinghouse Company ...
> [In the end] Tesla probably received about $100,000 total,
> paid to him in installments [spread across 11 years].
> To fathom the depth of hostility that existed within the
> Westinghouse camp against Tesla, one need only read Lewis B.
> Stillwell's chapter on the history of alternating current [in a
> book] widely distributed by the [Westinghouse] corporation and
> reissued in 1985: "Tesla came to Pittsburgh to develop his motor.
> He made vain attempts ..." The word "brilliant" is used to
> describe an accidental discovery that a spring would react to
> alternating currents, whereas NO adjective [at all] is used to
> describe [Tesla], the inventor of an entire power system!
***
Notice who is panning Tesla. No connection to Edison and, in fact, an
antagonist to him.
> Tesla [wrote]: "My system was based on the use of low
> frequency currents, but the Westinghouse experts had adopted 133
> cycles ... My efforts had to be concentrated on adapting the
> motor to THEIR conditions."
> --pp. 50-55
>
> In December 1888, Edison's propaganda battle against [Tesla
> and] Westinghouse peaked ...
> Edison allowed H. P. Brown [who was not an Edison employee]
> to come to his Menlo Park laboratory in order to electrocute
> various animals with AC. Brown, an electrical engineer, had
> become upset over the many accidental deaths of his colleagues.
> He had collected a list of over 80 casualties, and although many
> died because of DC, Brown decided that AC was the real culprit.
> Within two years, Brown began to manufacture electric chairs
> for various prisons [and] also planned to get paid to be the
> executioner ... Ostensibly because the Westinghouse motors could
> produce the more deadly frequency, Brown surreptitiously
> purchased some working models in order to continue his gruesome
> experiments [torturing and electrocuting animals].
***
Notice the difference in the above and the story recently passing around
about Edison hiring people to electrocute animals. In fact, it was I who
wrote that he had hired some one to do this. Obviously, I have heard
that so many times that despite having read otherwise, I still repeated
that assumption. Apparently there is far more to the story than even
what is above. I am sure that H.P. Brown was a complex human himself. He
seems to have initially, at least, been interested in safety.
> Naturally, Westinghouse was upset over the devastating
> publicity. He and Tesla faced the possibility that the new AC
> polyphase system might never succeed in competition with existing
> AC and DC technologies ... Public opinion continued to run
> against the "dangerous" Westinghouse current.
> Edison saw [this as an opportunity] to capitalize on his
> campaign against the new Tesla technology ... While Edison did
> not author the [high-frequency AC] electric-chair ideas, he did
> everything he could to help the cause ...
> Mass hysteria threatened to overpower attempts to institute
> the new Tesla AC invention ...
> Tesla realized that eventually [Westinghouse] would have to
> come around to lower frequencies if they wanted to use his
> creation, but, to his shock, "in 1890, the induction motor work
> was abandoned."
> Westinghouse let it be known that his backers would not
> continue throwing tens of thousands of dollars away on 'futile
> research.' It seemed folly to [abandon] all prevailing equipment
> to satisfy the untried requirements of this new technology.
> Furthermore, they were against the idea of paying [Tesla]
> royalties should the motor eventually prove PROFITABLE ...
> In a quandary, Tesla negotiated ... Westinghouse knew that
> he had to curtail all work on the motor at this time to satisfy
> the tide of hostility that was rising against Tesla. [But] he
> also knew that the invention was too important ...
> No one knows for sure exactly what happened, but it appears
> that Westinghouse made a tacit committment to Tesla that he would
> get the company to resume work on the motor if Tesla [waived] the
> royalty clause in his contract ....
> After nearly two years of inactivity, the Westinghouse
> people resumed their efforts to make the Tesla motor practicable.
>
***
The above is the most interesting paragraph in the book to conspiracy
theorists. It does indicate that there was probably some deeper controls
operating in the system, but does not really scratch the surface.
> In 1891, Benjamin Lamme, an easygoing youngster, began to
> reexamine Tesla's patents ... Lamme approached his overseers with
> a plan to resume work on the motor. What happened ... is that
> behind the scenes, [the senior engineers] realized that here was
> their opportunity to finally make use of the motor without giving
> any more credit to Tesla. They would simply let it be known that
> a "new and brilliant engineer" [Lamme] working at the company had
> "discovered" the efficiency of lower frequencies ... Having
> rediscovered what Tesla had been suggesting all along, Lamme now
> made it seem as though he were the originator of the idea.
> Uneducated readers, left with incomplete source materials,
> were forced to conclude that when it comes to the AC polyphase
> system, it was "that versatile genius B. G. Lamme [who was the]
> pillar of the Westinghouse company" who made it possible ...
***
Again, no connection to Edison in this.
snip
Howard Davis
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