re: #138 wheat-dogg

Denialists and alt-science types love them some Galileo, and alternatively Nicola Tesla, too. They elevate both men as heroes fighting against the rigid Establishment that was dead set to silence them.

They skip over the historical facts. Galileo had concrete evidence for the Copernican theory (TBH it was not ironclad evidence, but it was damned good), and the Church even admitted as such. Galileo was not punished for spreading an alternative scientific theory. He was punished for spreading heresy and resisting the Pope’s specific instructions not to popularize the Copernican theory. The Church, according to the historical record, was willing to accept Copernicus’ model as valid (he was a canon, after all), but the Church wanted to control the news, as it were. Galileo was subverting the authority of the Church by ridiculing Aristotelian theory and thereby Church dogma in his books. So, he was punished.

As for Tesla, some of his ideas were grounded in real science. Quite a lot of others were nonsense, or unworkable. His proposal of wireless electrical power transmission would have involved sending gigawatts of microwaves (or whatever) through the air. Convenient, yes, but highly inefficient, as most of the energy would be wasted.

Tesla’s problem was not Big Energy, but his own inability to stay financially solvent.

If it wasn’t for “the establishment,” Tesla would never have amounted to much. Or, rather, his ideas would have remained confined to the contents of his head and his journals. He relied upon George Westinghouse and his millions to finance and mass-market AC electricity and motors. Most of the inventions he came up with were financed through wealthy investors who were looking to cash in on the “next big thing.” Tesla’s claim to fame is that he had the book smarts to understand how to make AC work, something that a self-taught man like Edison lacked.