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pixel-painter t1_j46qee7 wrote

Reply to comment by Jeff_Spicoli420 in [Image] "I have not failed 700 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work." ~ Thomas A. Edison by Butterflies_Books

No he didn’t. Stop spreading this bullshit. The elephants owners electrocuted it after receiving backlash after they were going to hang it. There is a false tale that Edison did this to display the “dangers alternating current”. But Topsy the elephant was electrocuted 10 years after the War of the Currents. Edison wasn’t even present.

https://edison.rutgers.edu/life-of-edison/essaying-edison/essay/myth-buster-topsy-the-elephant

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Elipses_ t1_j46w1z6 wrote

Honestly, the Elephant thing always struck me as odd, considering that Edison DID invent the electric chair. One would think that killing humans with AC to scare people would be more horrifying than supposedly killing an elephant to do so.

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Lost_vob t1_j48zhbn wrote

He didn't invent the electric chair either. He was hired by the State of New York to research if the electric chair was a more humane alternative to hanging. Some dentist guy invented it.

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Elipses_ t1_j49aj9k wrote

Damn! Bamboozled by Edison again!

Edit: some quick and dirty research brings up that it was indeed a Dentisr guy who invented the chair. Edison did apparently quietly finance its creation though, on the condition it used AC.

Also found out the Dentist was from Buffalo, the city I live in the area of. This is... odd to think about.

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Lost_vob t1_j49myo7 wrote

Well, it had to use AC. No one is worried about their toddlers shoving forks in battery ports, but wall sockets are a different story entirely.

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bremidon t1_j47jnwp wrote

Why am I not surprised that this is bullshit.

On the one hand, I think it's great that Tesla gets a lot of props these days. But I think it's absolutely tragic that so many people feel like they have to pull someone else down.

Yeah, they didn't get along and Edison kinda screwed Tesla. That was sort of par for the course in business back then (and today, if we are being honest).

But no, it's never enough to point out somewhere that Edison was wrong. Now he has to be the devil from Jersey.

- from someone who once completely bought into the whole Edison is Evil goof

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Elipses_ t1_j49crgs wrote

Interestingly enough, that article does provide an Edison connection, but only an indirect one. The company that filmed the electrocution was Edison's film company, and supposedly the elephants owners were inspired to use electrocution by the animal electrocution that Edison did arrange, years earlier.

It's an interesting article, while still short. I recommend anyone interested give it a read.

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