Way back in May I was contacted by a producer for a TV series for the History Channel called “10 Things You Don’t Know About,” hosted by Henry Rollins. They were interested in doing a program on the rivalry between Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla. I spoke with the producer and provided my thoughts on what interesting facts they could include, and although I didn’t make it into the final program, it aired on September 7, 2014.
10 Things You Don’t Know About Edison vs Tesla
Rollins talks to an interesting array of experts and gets himself zapped by The Oatmeal, deep dives to the sunken luxury liner Oregon, and checks out Edison’s handwritten notes for a planned science fiction book. He also delves into Mark Twain’s role as Tesla’s “test dummy,” Edison’s most profitable invention (it’s not what you think and is actually quite ironic), and Tesla’s inspiration from Christopher Columbus. All in all it’s a great program.
You can also check out my own “5 Things You Didn’t Know about Nikola Tesla,” including how Tesla was both a showman and recluse, his interest in renewable energy, and why some people thought he was an alien from another planet.
Search for Telsa in the box above for more things you didn’t know about Nikola Tesla. And if you downloaded my e-book, Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time, please leave a short review and rating to help others discover Nikola Tesla.
David J. Kent is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and the ebook Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time.
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The sequence in this episode showing Henry Rollins diving on the Oregon chronicles him and his diving partner pocketing an artifact from the wreck. Nowhere did they show them putting in back after they surfaced. They even stated that this was a “Significant piece of Edison and Tesla history.” So, why did they take it? This is in total contradiction of one of the principles of “Leave No Trace,” which don’t deface or take artifact. But what would you expect from a channel and purports to be about history then brings you shows about building motorcycles and pawn brokers…
Very good point. I don’t know the ultimate fate of the artifact but they certainly left the impression that they took it from the site.