History They Don't Teach You: Edison Zaps...an Elephant?!?!
We've all learned about Thomas Edison, for sure. He was a brilliant inventor from the turn-of-last-century. He improved the light bulb and telegraph and invented the phonograph and stock ticker, among countless other things at his Menlo Park laboratory in NJ. Woo-hoo, go Edison!
What we don't hear as much about, though, is that Edison was a cut-throat businessman who reaped the benefits of an age that saw the birth of modern utilities. Most of his patents were on improvements of exisiting utilities, such as light bulbs. Often, he found himself in court, battling challenges to his patents. Challengers claimed that Edison stole their ideas; Edison called his use of ideas as "research." Some fellow Menlo workers also claimed that Edison took credit for their ideas.
All the while, Edison continued to rake in the dollars.
Now, this all takes me to a very disturbing and darkly amusing example of Edison's cut-throat ways:
Edison was a major supporter of DC, as his patents were based on direct current. He also had a plan in mind for, essentially, an American power grid based on DC. Now, considering the nature of DC, Edison's plan envisioned a small power station on every block. If such a grid plan had gone into effect, considering Edison's patents, he would have brought in loads of royalties.
Now, the brilliant Nikola Tesla advocated using the much more efficient AC. (Interestingly, Tesla had worked for a time under Edison at Menlo.) Tesla had patented AC in Austria.
The War of Currents
Edison could not bear to see his DC plan lose out--costing him all of those precious royalties, and so he and some of his employees went on a campaign to discredit Tesla and AC. Apparently, some of Edison's employees invented the electric chair, which was based on AC, largely to prove the point that AC can be highly lethal; ironically, Edison was against capital punishment.
Then, Edison himself took the helm of this campaign. He put on a series of public demonstrations in a bid to show how dangerous AC was by...electrocuting animals!?! In his first demonstrations, he electrocuted (to death) puppies and other small animals! This apparently wasn't enough to scare people away from AC, so Edison then electrocuted a horse, killing it! This still was not enough, so Edison zapped and killed...an elephant. The elephant's name was Topsy, and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals actually approved of this "execution" because ole Topsy had killed three people. (I guess hanging it would have been pretty difficult.)
My point here is not simply to say that Edison was a driven businessmen, but to show how just a light read of History may as well be mythology. Students learn to "ooh" and "ahh" the great scientific progress of Edison's era, but less often do they learn the more important lesson that, as in most cases, the pocketbook was behind everything.
Oh, and I also just wanted to share some pretty wicked trivia. ;D
What we don't hear as much about, though, is that Edison was a cut-throat businessman who reaped the benefits of an age that saw the birth of modern utilities. Most of his patents were on improvements of exisiting utilities, such as light bulbs. Often, he found himself in court, battling challenges to his patents. Challengers claimed that Edison stole their ideas; Edison called his use of ideas as "research." Some fellow Menlo workers also claimed that Edison took credit for their ideas.
All the while, Edison continued to rake in the dollars.
Now, this all takes me to a very disturbing and darkly amusing example of Edison's cut-throat ways:
Edison was a major supporter of DC, as his patents were based on direct current. He also had a plan in mind for, essentially, an American power grid based on DC. Now, considering the nature of DC, Edison's plan envisioned a small power station on every block. If such a grid plan had gone into effect, considering Edison's patents, he would have brought in loads of royalties.
Now, the brilliant Nikola Tesla advocated using the much more efficient AC. (Interestingly, Tesla had worked for a time under Edison at Menlo.) Tesla had patented AC in Austria.
The War of Currents
Edison could not bear to see his DC plan lose out--costing him all of those precious royalties, and so he and some of his employees went on a campaign to discredit Tesla and AC. Apparently, some of Edison's employees invented the electric chair, which was based on AC, largely to prove the point that AC can be highly lethal; ironically, Edison was against capital punishment.
Then, Edison himself took the helm of this campaign. He put on a series of public demonstrations in a bid to show how dangerous AC was by...electrocuting animals!?! In his first demonstrations, he electrocuted (to death) puppies and other small animals! This apparently wasn't enough to scare people away from AC, so Edison then electrocuted a horse, killing it! This still was not enough, so Edison zapped and killed...an elephant. The elephant's name was Topsy, and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals actually approved of this "execution" because ole Topsy had killed three people. (I guess hanging it would have been pretty difficult.)
My point here is not simply to say that Edison was a driven businessmen, but to show how just a light read of History may as well be mythology. Students learn to "ooh" and "ahh" the great scientific progress of Edison's era, but less often do they learn the more important lesson that, as in most cases, the pocketbook was behind everything.
Oh, and I also just wanted to share some pretty wicked trivia. ;D