One of Tesla's most steady rivals was Thomas Edison, widely believed to be the inventor of...well, just about every electrical item we use today, from the light bulb to the movie projector. In actuality Edison didn't invent squat or at least, not half as many as the world-changing inventions that are frequently attributed to this serial scam artist from Ohio, often dubbed The Wizard Of Menlo Park. It's widely believed that Edison nabbed Tesla's ideas for the light bulb whilst he was working for him, and that the American was principal in quashing his Serbian rival's far superior alternating current that stood in opposition to the direct current Edison used in all of his patented technology. He also stole both Tesla and Rontgen's work on x-rays. Whilst Edison did work on a projector called the Kinetoscope, it kind of sucked. It was blurry and you couldn't really make out any of the images. A few years later a young inventor called Francis Jenkins developed a much better projector called the Phantoscope, working with a business partner called Thomas Armat. Armat and Jenkins fought for the patent rights on the Panthoscope, with Armat eventually coming up trumps and then going to work for...Thomas Edison, who fused the two projectors together and took all the glory.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
