10 Deeply Personal Historical Rivalries
6. Nikola Tesla Vs. Thomas Edison: The Most Electrifying Men In History
People argue over Edison and Tesla so much it's exhausting.
The crux of the feud was over alternating current (Tesla) and direct current (Edison), with each side claiming their method was the more efficient. Without going into the science of it all, AC is generally better for longer, wider grids of power; while DC is better for shorter, lower uses of power.
We use a combination of both today. Both men's ideas are valid, neither one is an idiot, stop fighting.
The feud however was not only focused on their differences of current events (get it?), but also their differences in scientific methodology. Edison was a much more 'trial and error' sort of guy and Tesla was more 'think before you act'.
Edison, and experts who allied with the DC system, held public executions of animals to demonstrate how Tesla's alternating current was the most dangerous thing imaginable, most notably killing an elephant (there's video of this, find it yourself though).
Tesla didn't have many nice things to say about Edison either, claiming in so many words that Edison's successes were down more to luck than any actual system of logic.