In the FO universe, was his method for producing electricity seen as superior to Thomas Edison's?

From what I understand, in the Fallout universe, all of Nikola Tesla's inventions worked and were used and recognized by the United States Government. Hence, Tesla Armor, Tesla Coils, Tesla Cannons and energy weapons.

In our timeline his method of producing electricity was superior to Thomas Edison. Edison was a huge supporter of direct current while Tesla supported alternating current which is what we use today.

Edison spend alot of money trying to say alternating current was dangerous and he went as far as having animals electrocuted to death with it, such as elephants. Most of the stuff people say Edison invented isn't true. Edison hired alot of scientists and paid them to invent things, and when they did he took all rights to it.

Sadly Nikola Tesla isn't nearly recongized enough as being the great engineer and inventor that he was.

Most people know Edison, but very few know of Tesla.

That's because Edison was a big blow hard with alot of money from his bought and paid for inventions (possibly even stolen) and he had powerful friends in government and media. Despite being wrong about Direct Current, the myth about how great he was is still tought today in schools. He didn't even invent the light bulb! at least he didn't invent the right filament.

It also didn't help the Tesla had some radical ideas, such as earthquake machines. A case of genius to the point of almost madness I guess :shrug:

tesla did allways strike me as a bit goofy or off or whatver you perfer

By the 1950s, most direct current (DC) power grids had been replaced by alternating currents. (AC) The "War of the Currents" took place mainly in the 1880s and 1890s, and the benefits of AC power (which could transport electricity for hundreds of miles without losing power, while DC would do so after a mile) were widely seen. Thomas Edison died in the 1930s, Nikola Tesla died in the 1940s, so Nikola would have had much more time to convince the US government, especially without his competitor.
Seeing as the US government even went as far to adopt his power weapons, as others have pointed out, it seems safe to say that AC power had been triumphant in the Fallout universe, just as it was in ours.
I know Fallout loves archaic tech over modern tech, but you just can't say no to AC power, unless you want to jot a power plant every mile or so.

I always thought he was better because I read http://badasshistory.com/tesla.html. But I think we can figure that that bit of history ran its course rather normally. Then like our universe the military took his plans for his creations and in the fallout universe eventually put them to work.

That is probobly the best article I have ever read.

My school taught us that he was insane, they went on and on about his earthquake machine and how he would sit in his lab working up to 5am.

However, no matter what the school system said, I knew he wasn't completely insane, just a little crazy.

And the funny thing is they never said a bad word about Edison.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEJNJ0rFSe8&feature=player_embedded

That's because Edison was a big blow hard with money and powerful friends to spread lies about how great he was. He got the word out about how he invented everything he is credited for inventing (even though he most likey never invented a damn thing) and people belived it because everyone telling them he invented it wer normally paid off by Edison.

Its pretty much the same thing with America's flag. Alot of people think Betsy Ross came up with it. Its still tough today, but it was her grandson that went around spreading that lie and thinks to him, almost everyone thinks she did.

To be fair Edison invented the lightbulb (the idea of putting filiment into a vacuum is a bigger breakthrough than filiment itself) he also invented the first moving picture and dozens of others. However, Edison also electrocuted animals to death in public to prove how dangerous AC was. He even created the first electric chair as a means of execution in order to make his DC power look better.

Tesla's sanity is questionable. He had an accident when he was a child and admitted to seeing flashes of light. He created wireless trasminssion (though until the 1960s the credit was given to Marconi) He also created AC, a vastly superior form of electrcity. However, Tesla also claimed to be able to create a death ray, a lightning gun, and a doomsday device when investors became scarce.

Edison hired alot of scientists,engineers and other smart creative people and paid them to to sit around and invent things, and when they did Edison came along and took 100% of the credit. He did that with pretty much everything people say he invented. Picture yourself creating something and then your boss coming along and taking it from you and getting all the credit and money. That was Edison.

I never knew anyone thought she invented it, just sewed a huge one during the revolution.

Thats also another myth. The huge one at the Smithsonian, is often called the Betsy Ross flag from the American Revolution, but its really from the War of 1812. It was the flag at Baltimore’s Fort McHenry and it inspired the American National Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner.

That's crazy!
If history from 200-300 years ago is this inaccurate than what about the history from the Roman Empire?

It could've been insanely different and the story could've just changed through time.

You have a point but the true is out there. The only problem is people like to believe in myths. It gets to the point were people don't even know what they believe, is a myth and they go on to spread it. The education system doesn't care, because its full of people that think the lie is the truth.

The term the "true this stranger then fiction" very real. Americans are every patriotic people and rightfuly so but so much of what they think is the truth is just Myth. What is more patriotic. A woman making a flag for George Washington. Or the Flag that inspired the Star-Spangled Banner. The Flag that is the one that is in the song everyone sings every day in America. The one that was on the poll during the battle with the British Empire. "That our flag was still there."

Everyone in America should know the true behind that, but more often then not they know the lie/myth. Just like how they think Edison is the greatest inventor in American History, but he's far from it. He didn't invent the stuff he is given creadit for. He just bought the rights to them all and put in the patent.

Unfortunately this is often because the myth/lie is more sensational, and it makes a better story. Even the school systems, as Sebor said, teach that Tesla was crazy, while Edison was a genius. This is because that sounds more interesting than "Tesla had a lot of great ideas, but Edison was a power hungry rich guy that used his influence to gain all the attention."

I just feel bad for Tesla, he had so many brilliant ideas but to this day he is generally thought of as crazy :sadvaultboy:

I didn't know anyone thought that either... Also its at the American History Smithsonian :thumbsup:

What i mean, she didn't make a nice flag to go on your front porch, larger than that. I would actually be surprised if any semi-intelligent people thought that that was from the revolution.

but he was crazy!!!! he was a complete madman, abeit a genius madman but still a madman alltogether.

How do we know that though? Thomas Edison spent alot of money on bad mouthing Tesla.

When I picture him, I see him as being very naive, but that's just me.

Telsa did the same to Edison. They hated one another with a passion. Your hatred of Edison is from the words of Telsa's own smear campaign.

Since Edison is an American hero even though most if not all "his inventions" were not of his creation and that alot of people are taught that Edison is the father of AC and that Telsa was a crazy nut.. Its safe to say that Edison was far better at his smear job of Tesla, then Tesla was at smearing Edison. If he really did. Edison went around electrocuting animals to show that AC current wasn't safe.

There was even that episode of Family Guy: Edison and Telsa were in a room and people were deciding on AC vs DC. They said "ok were are going with Edison's AC and Telsa, yours will be used in the background of our horror movies." Edison was dead wrong about DC and Telsa was right about AC. Yet Edison went down in history as the Father of AC.