Second Draft

CCNY
Rejaur Khan 

Writing for Engineering 

2/5/24

Edison vs. Tesla

Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla are two of the world’s greatest inventors and engineers. If it came down to whose ideas I would invest in, it would Edison. His inventions and everything he has done go a long way over Tesla. Without Edison many of the current facilities we use would make life easier and wouldn’t have happened without the mind of Thomas Edison. 

Thomas Edison is known for creating the DC current and for creating inventions that we currently use today. He also had 1093 patents and was also an entrepreneur and businessman. One of the biggest achievements is creating the lightbulb. This kind of an invention has shaped life for many as the lightbulb has brought light to many homes and businesses that couldn’t function in the dark. Many other inventions include the phonograph, electric vote recorder, etc . Edison not only made inventions, but also made improvements to many inventions. He made improvements to the telegraph and received many patents. He was able to improve Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone by working on a telephone transmitter. Because of him and his experiments with both the telegraph and telephone, he invented the phonograph. Thomas Edison was able to create some of the things we use today and also vastly make improvements and adjustments to it. 

Edison is considered to be an important figure. But even Edison had many issues that were his setbacks on his journey.  He was a poor student at school which led to him being dropped out and homeschooled by his mother. He also almost lost his hearing which is mostly due to scarlet fever or because of an explosion. Some things were also related to his work. He wanted to produce his own supply of iron ore by creating an iron ore extractor and plant. He wanted to do so because he wanted to extract low cost iron which was affecting his inventions. Sadly, the cost of iron dropped dramatically and he lost not one but two of his plants. However, he was able to use those methods and bring them into concrete production. Edison’s first invention, the electrographic vote recorder, was designed to save hours of Senate procedure sessions. But the Senate believed it would cause issues so they were against it. Still, Edison didn’t give up and decided to work on other inventions. 

Even though I would have chosen Edison, we can’t just not talk about the rivalry between Edison and Tesla. Edison and Tesla have quite the rivalry but I believed that Edison had a bigger impact as mentioned before, he has over 1000 patents and created and improved many inventions. Tesla has less than 300 and his inventions were only limited to power and communication systems and in addition almost lost all of his money towards the later years of his life.

Some people may choose not to know who both of these inventors are. However it’s ok not to. THese people lived and died before many of us were born. However it’s worth noting that without Edison, we wouldn’t experience the world the way it is today. 

Conot, R., Josephson, M., & Melosi, M. V. (2020). Life of Thomas Alva Edison  :  biography  :  articles and essays  :  inventing entertainment: The early motion pictures and sound recordings of the Edison Companies  :  digital collections  :  library of Congress. The Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/collections/edison-company-motion-pictures-and-sound-recordings/articles-and-essays/biography/life-of-thomas-alva-edison/#text1 

 Ghose, T. (2020, July 10). Nikola Tesla vs. Thomas Edison: Who was the better inventor?. LiveScience. https://www.livescience.com/46739-tesla-vs-edison-comparison.html 

Ventues, I. (2016, January 26). Failing for success: Thomas Edison. Intellectual Ventures. https://www.intellectualventures.com/buzz/insights/failing-for-success-thomas-edison