History Favors the Bold

摘要

At Popular Science, we talk about inventors the way sportswriters talk about pitchers or quarterbacks. Because of that, the question "Who is your favorite inventor?" is one I get just about every week. My answer is always the same: Nikola Tesla. I pretty much idolize the guy. In just a few decades, the man developed an induction motor, the modern system of electrical distribution, remote control, and the basis for radio communications. The power in our homes, the radios in our cars, and the phones in our pockets all owe their existence in part to Tesla. (He also may have burned down a building with artificial lightning and was rumored to be working on a death beam-but, hey, no one bats 1,000.)