[Sporktacular]

Come on, a charlatan who invented the electrical system we are still using today? A charlatans would be looking for an easier grift which doesn't require an engineering degree, year long battles with other inventors etc. Suspect it's more complicated than that.

[MisterTea]

> Come on, a charlatan who invented the electrical system we are still using today?

Did he? http://edisontechcenter.org/AC-PowerHistory.html

I still stand by my opinion and believe his patents and inventions were based on the ideas of others and his celebrity status afforded him this. I also suspect that the USA at the time was more than happy to side with American inventors in patent disputes.

[Sporktacular]

And there he is, right there in your reference (great reference for an unbiased point of view by the way) as an inventor of the AC system.

All inventions are somehow based on the ideas of others, but you still contend that his studying two engineering disciplines, developing several technologies and fighting the current wars were all part of the long grift of a conman? Seems like the long, risky route to the $$$ no?

(Yes, before I said THE inventor - you got me.)

[bitwize]

Indeed. Tesla may have entertained a few kooky ideas -- forgivable in his time because of how little we knew about electricity then compared to now -- but he was an honest man, and AC worked!

Edison was the charlatan.

[random314]

He did not invent AC. He patented the transformer and a brushless AC motor.