When it comes to Edison, everyone in China knows it. I still remember when I was in elementary school, his portrait hung on the classroom wall, and there was a familiar saying: "Genius is ninety-nine percent perspiration, plus one percent inspiration." President Edison** *With more than 2,000 inventions and more than 1,500 patents, we all think he is a genius inventor and a scientific great. However, when we look at the history behind this great inventor, we will find that although Edison has made many contributions, compared with his despicable, cold and profit-seeking nature, he can only be regarded as a "successful businessman" . ”

What people are most familiar with is that Edison invented the electric light. However, after the verification of later generations, Edison was not the inventor of the electric light, but could only be regarded as an improver of the electric light.

As early as 1801, the British chemist Humphrey Dyce used platinum wire to generate electricity. Later, he made the world's first electric lamp in 1810 using 2,000 batteries and two carbon rods. However, the light was too strong and could only be used in city squares and could not be used by ordinary households. In the following decades, scientists from all over the world were developing electric lights. Due to limited space, I will not go into detail here. I just want to say, what is Edison doing at this time?

Until 1874, two Canadian electrical engineers applied for an electric light patent, but they had no funds for subsequent research and development. At this time, Edison came on the scene. He first purchased the patent and then tried to improve the filament. After conducting many experiments, Edison finally "invented" the carbonized bamboo filament light bulb in 1880. But then Swann, an Englishman, sued Edison for infringing his patent and won the case. As a last resort, Edison was forced to let Swan join him and become his partner. Immediately afterwards, Goebbels, another Englishman who held the patent for the light bulb invention, passed away. Edison approached his widow and obtained Goebbels' patent through coaxing and deception. It can be said that Edison did not invent the electric light, but he did own the patent for the electric light. Edison used other people's inventions to gain great recognition from later generations.

Thanks to the advent of the electric light, Edison made huge profits, so he began to create his own studio and company. Edison established his own laboratory in a small town in New Jersey, USA, and recruited a large number of developers. In his laboratory, there were 14 outstanding scientists, physicists, engineers, mechanics and other inventors. They were called "scientific madmen" by Edison. In just 6 years, this group of "scientific madmen" "Contributed more than 400 inventions to Edison's company. And what about Edison? His main job is to deal with clients and increase his media exposure.

From this point of view, Edison is not a person, but a team helping him work. This group of people created the person "Edison", and Edison introduced the brand "Edison" to the market through various business operations and deified himself.

A professor at Stanford University in the United States once said: Edison did not invent the electric light, but successfully commercialized the invention. Therefore, Edison was not a great inventor, but a successful businessman. Not only that, he is also a profit-seeking villain who relies on squeezing employees and suppressing talents to increase his reputation.

Tesla, the "Father of Alternating Current", is a buried genius. His reputation is extremely disproportionate to his contribution, and all of this was caused by Edison. Why?

In 1880, Edison invented direct current. Two years later, Tesla invented alternating current and built the world's first alternator. He came to the United States in 1884 and worked for Edison's company. Edison asked him to be responsible for the design of some electrical appliances and promised him: If you can complete the improvement of motors and generators, you will receive a reward of $50,000 (equivalent to millions of dollars today). So Tesla spent a year working and finally completed the improvement of the generator, almost remaking Edison's generator. Edison successfully obtained a patent for the improved generator and made money from it. Made huge profits. When Tesla asked Edison for a $50,000 bonus, Edison refused on the grounds that "you don't understand our American humor." At that time, Tesla only received a salary of $18 per week in Edison's company. Later, he asked for an increase to $25, but Edison refused. Tesla couldn't bear it anymore and resigned angrily. Before leaving, Edison tricked him and put all 24 of Tesla's patents in his name.

Later Tesla founded his own company and continued to popularize and promote his own alternating current. Edison knew very well that alternating current was the future of mankind, but he spent a lot of money on his own direct current. If he switched to alternating current, his losses would be huge. As a result, he began to oppose Tesla everywhere and did everything possible to hinder Tesla's promotion of alternating current.

Tesla often holds press conferences to introduce its AC to investors.

Often when he held a press conference, Edison would bring a bunch of people to the door to cause trouble. They created a commotion at the venue, spread rumors that alternating current would explode, and then lured guests to his press conference. Edison even spent his own money to finance the first electric chair execution using alternating current in human history. It was just to make people think that "using alternating current equals death."

In 1895, Edison did something Something even more abominable. He sent people to burn down Tesla's laboratory, causing Tesla to go bankrupt. Among them, the biggest loss to all mankind is that Tesla has been studying for many years, and the research reports on the damage of X-rays to the human body, radiation and plasma damage are about to be published publicly, and the results have all been burned. This also directly led to the fact that R?ntgen and Marie Curie later used their bodies to conduct experiments. After suffering great injuries, they once again demonstrated Tesla's point of view. And all of this is the good work of the "militia" raised by Edison.

In addition, Maxim, the inventor of the world's first machine gun, was also harassed by Edison. In a bidding project, Edison learned about Maxim's machine gun project, so he used both hard and soft tactics to suppress Maxim. Maxim, who couldn't stand the harassment, sold the machine gun patent to Edison at a very cheap price, and left the United States for Europe. As a result, Edison became the famous inventor of the Maxim machine gun.

It can be said that Edison used various shameful means to deal with competitors and earn high profits. In terms of invention, he is far from as great as described in the textbook. He is just good at using other people's inventions and turning them into commercialization. Therefore, Edison was just a successful businessman. Compared with other inventors of the same period, he was still far behind.

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