Tesla predicted cell phones in 1909

[rudeguy]

http://recombu.com/news/nikola-tesla-predicted-mobile-phones-in-1909_M11683.html


Pretty cool. The more I learn about this guy, the more I wonder why he isn't more famous.

 

[Brian Stirling]

He wasn't as famous as he should have been because he happened to but heads with Edison and Edison generally won the day. Of course, Edison promoted DC power transmission and he lost that one.


Brian

 

[Axon]

His genius was virtually unparalleled. Only a handful in history can hope to challenge his achievements and relevance. He did go a bit crazy towards the end, however.

Who can say how the world might have been changed if the Wardenclyffe Tower had come to fruition? It was designed to provide electricity wirelessly. No smart business man can see the value in that, but I guess that's why we'll probably exterminate ourselves before we reach some kind of Star Trek like harmony.

 

[Blackjack200]

I'm a big Tesla fan. I love the (fake) photos of him chilling with a notebook while a giant electrode spews lightning bolts all over the place.

 

[zerocool84]

Of course he predicted that. He had his wireless power delivery system. Cellphones are just the evolution of that.

 

[SunnyD]

Sounds more to me like he predicted pretty much ALL radio communications, including satellites.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

If we had just funded him, who knows where we would be right now. But instead he died alone with hardly any money.

 

[rudeguy]

If we had just funded him, who knows where we would be right now. But instead he died alone with hardly any money.

More like Edison drove a stake into his heart.

I think Tesla was way smarter and his technology would have put us light years ahead of where we are...but Edison was a better businessman and also wasn't afraid to be very shady. Didn't he design the electric chair to scare people away from Tesla's ideas?

 

[sswingle]

More like Edison drove a stake into his heart.

I think Tesla was way smarter and his technology would have put us light years ahead of where we are...but Edison was a better businessman and also wasn't afraid to be very shady. Didn't he design the electric chair to scare people away from Tesla's ideas?

Yup, Edison made the electric chair and used AC to scare people away from wanting AC in their houses. Didn't work of course.

 

[EarthwormJim]

I don't mean to be a party pooper, but I'd have thought anyone working in the field at that point in time would predict cell phones. Especially someone like Tesla who was so big into wireless technology.

What would have been more amazing is if he actually predicted the cell concept for handling wireless telecommunication.

 

[zerocool84]

Sounds more to me like he predicted pretty much ALL radio communications, including satellites.

Pretty much. He was the man.

 

[basslover1]

I'm a big Tesla fan. I love the (fake) photos of him chilling with a notebook while a giant electrode spews lightning bolts all over the place.

Tesla Coil.

Did you not play Red Alert growing up?

 

[Axon]

I don't mean to be a party pooper, but I'd have thought anyone working in the field at that point in time would predict cell phones. Especially someone like Tesla who was so big into wireless technology.

What would have been more amazing is if he actually predicted the cell concept for handling wireless telecommunication.

See, you're speaking from a perspective of the world as it stands now. Wireless tech, to us, is so usual that we take it for granted. However, in 1910, most of the technology we now take for granted was considered nothing more than imagination or black magic. That's how crazy ignorant the world was. At the time, anyone "working" in that field - with any relevance - was probably 4 or 5 guys.

In many ways, Tesla invented the field of wireless technology. Everyone else, save Edison, was just piggybacking his research and trying to take credit for it. Even Edison had to give Tesla his props when he was on his death bed, saying his one true mistake not respecting Tesla or his work.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

http://recombu.com/news/nikola-tesla-predicted-mobile-phones-in-1909_M11683.html


Pretty cool. The more I learn about this guy, the more I wonder why he isn't more famous.

yeah, well black people in africa predicted flight thousands of years ago, and gene roddenberry predicted laser weapons.

 

[Fayd]

http://recombu.com/news/nikola-tesla-predicted-mobile-phones-in-1909_M11683.html


Pretty cool. The more I learn about this guy, the more I wonder why he isn't more famous.

i would say inside certain circles (engineering, science) he's probably more highly regarded than edison.

the average public just knows edison as the guy who invented the lightbulb (though there were several made before him). noone even thinks about how power gets to the lightbulb. that backbone of infrastructure, supporting everything else in our lives is taken for granted because it's largely transparent to us.