I've only known 2 great people in my life, one is you Edison and the other is Tesla.

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Recently, I read a book called "Optoelectronic Empire", which tells the business war story of 2 legendary figures Edison and Tesla, which is extremely exciting.

Many people know the name Tesla, presumably because Elon Musk's electric car company is called Tesla, the origin of tesla car name is actually to commemorate the scientist Nikola Tesla, he is the inventor of alternating current, even Elon Musk is a hardcore fan of Tesla.

Tesla is a typical bully, after graduation went to Edison's branch in Europe, because the exquisite technology soon became the backbone of the company, once Germany built a very large railway station, the lighting system of this railway station is provided by Edison's company, the opening of this railway station when the German emperor William I also participated in the ribbon cutting, but the ribbon cutting day because of the failure of electrical equipment, a fire occurred, burned off a wall of the railway station, the opening of the railway station is a mess, The Germans were no longer going to pay for the electrical equipment provided by Edison.

In Germany such an important day on such a big accident, then Edison's company in Europe how to mix ah, this time can only send technical backbone Tesla to Germany to repair equipment, before leaving the company's head also promised, you as long as you repair the equipment of the German railway station, I will send you a huge bonus. Tesla went to Germany and not only repaired the lighting equipment for the railway station, but also asked for money for the equipment. After returning to Europe, the European gang of leaders thought about the debt, and said to Tesla that we could not afford to give this money, but I can write a letter of recommendation for you to work with your idol Edison, the content of this letter is not good, only a simple sentence:

I've only known 2 great people in my life, one is you Edison and the other is Tesla.

Now everyone says Jobs, but I don't think Jobs' historical status can be compared to Edison's. Edison invented electric lights, movies, and phonographs. Before there was no electric light, human beings fell asleep at night, and now at night, there are lights everywhere, and the electric lights invented by Edison have greatly enriched the nightlife of human beings, adding a disposable amount of time to everyone. Movies and phonographs allowed human culture to break the time limits, and its vivid forms were passed down from generation to generation, it can be said that Edison's inventions have completely changed human culture, and he is the benefactor of mankind.

Everyone knows that Jobs loves to develop a conference, in fact, as early as 100 years ago, Edison had a very large conference, when he just invented the electric light, in a dark night, he invited a lot of social celebrities, rich people to his institute, he also gave this institute a very tall name called Monroe Park, in fact, it is a very ordinary building, when everyone came to Monroe Park, he turned on the lights arranged in advance of Monroe Park, a moment of white night, The building was like a palace in a fairy tale, and the visual impact stunned everyone.

Tesla took this letter to see Edison, Edison read the letter, and sure enough, he reused Tesla very much, and there were several years of honeymoon period, but the biggest difference between Tesla and Edison was whether humans should use alternating current or direct current, Tesla believed that alternating current is the future of mankind, because alternating current is not only high voltage, but also very suitable for long-distance transmission, and Edison's light bulb uses direct current, has invested in Jinshan Yinshan to pave his bulb, if it is now changed to alternating current, it is to personally destroy the painstaking efforts spent on so many years.

Tesla worked in Edison not long ago to break up, according to Tesla because Edison arranged Tesla to repair a bunch of generators, Edison said that if you can fix it, I will give you 50,000 US dollars, 50,000 US dollars is equivalent to what, equivalent to Tesla's 50 years of wages, because the power is particularly large, the result tesla really repaired the pile of generators. This time, Edison had to pay the bills again, telling Tesla that he was joking with him. Tesla said you don't give me bonuses, can you raise my salary from $18 a week to $25, Edison still doesn't do it, Tesla took his most core alternating current technology to another very famous electrical company in the United States, called Westinghouse.

Tesla came to Westinghouse Electric, was reused by the boss, alternating current projects are also engaged in the wind and water, at this time Edison is not happy, the use of alternating current voltage is high, can crisis people's lives this weakness of the fuss, he even joined the government to invent the use of alternating current electric chair, to execute the death row prisoners. Another time, an elephant in the New York Zoo was a little crazy, trampled three keepers in succession, the people were very angry, to execute the elephant, this time Edison came over and said, let me come, in order to prove how dangerous alternating current is, he invented a shoe cover for the elephant, which is actually an electrode, and the elephant was electrocuted by alternating current, which was very cruel.

This book also has many stories of Edison and Tesla's business wars, which are very exciting, and you can also flip through this book when you have time.

After reading this book, I have 2 feelings:

1. Is the competition between DC and ALTERNA similar to the competition between film cameras and digital cameras, Nokia mobile phones and Apple mobile phones, and even the competition between fuel vehicles and new energy vehicles now? Every product has its own life cycle, and the deeper you get stuck in the wrong product, the more hurt you get. The competition between DC and alternating current, everyone knows that it must be that alternating current has defeated direct current and approached thousands of households, Edison's direct current business is bankrupt, Edison ran to mine, the result was that the mine failed, and then Edison went to cement again, the cement business also failed, and finally relied on the invention of an iron-nickel battery to be able to turn over.

2. Obviously Tesla beat Edison with alternating current, why did Edison become famous in the end, while Tesla was almost unknown? I think Tesla is a pure scientist, although he invented alternating current, but the patent for alternating current was given to Westinghouse Electric for free, he devoted his life to scientific research, did not start a family, and finally died of heart failure in a hotel at the age of 89. And Eddie is not only a scientist and inventor, he also has a very important role, he is also a very good businessman. Scientists and inventors exist to invent products and create value, and the role of the businessman is to transmit value. For example, scientists can invent light bulbs, but it is businessmen who really make light bulbs light up thousands of homes. Why did Edison develop the press conference? He is to persuade the whole society to use electric lights, the use of electric lights is not simply to take a light bulb home can be used, the power system behind it must also be recognized by the whole society, even if the whole society accepts the power system, the price of using electric lights can not be reduced to a level that everyone can accept, but also a very core problem to be solved by businessmen. I think that for a man who can't play on the battlefield in peacetime, then business is the most attractive battlefield, and he should go to start a business once in this life and become a businessman.