Volume 13, No. 2
April 2001
The World Wide Web and the Transformation of Internet Doman Names
IEEE 2001 Conference on History of Telecommunications
Book Review:
The Sociology of Invention: A review of Silicon Sky
News of the Field:
Marconi Collection
Scientific and Technical Information Systems Historical Meeting
Telecomm Museum and Website, SHOT website
Superman and the Case of the Disappearing Public Telephone
Tesla & Edison
Why has Nikola Tesla become a cult figure and Thomas Edison has not? Both men demonstrated remarkable inventive genius, and both pioneered in the field of electricity. Their personal and technical styles were dramatically different, of course, and their reputations differ accordingly. Every American schoolchild has learned of Edison for over a century, and many admire him. But those who carry the flame of Tesla’s memory do so with a passion that often startles Edison’s fans.
A. David Wunsch raised this question. His essay “Misreading the Supreme Court: A Puzzling Chapter in the History of Radio” appeared in the November 1998 Antenna and aroused a good bit of reaction, some of which we printed thereafter. Only recently a devotee to Tesla’s memory sent your faithful editors a message, asking that it be forwarded to David and thereby prompting David’s query.
Comparing Tesla with Edison, or Antonio Meucci with Alexander Graham Bell, could tell us a lot about how historical memories evolve. Moreover, how do technologies and innovators become cultural icons and part of our cultural legacies? David suggests, and we agree, that this set of questions could frame a fascinating SHOT session.