Natural gas, being mostly non-toxic methane, is very much safer than the coal gas (also known as town gas or illuminating gas) being used at the time. Coal gas is largely carbon monoxide. Perhaps that was Westinghouse's motivation.
Tesla's enormous respect and affection for George Westinghouse is readily apparent with just a bit of digging through the historic record. George Westinghouse was an atypical man of his time in many ways. In the end, the Electric Company was his pride and joy and its loss from the Panic of 1907 crushed and ultimately crushed his soul. He's a great man who should be honored for a life well spent at improving life quality for everyone.
Excellent video as usual. I have read that unlike Edison, Westinghouse let the employees who came up with ideas on company time, patent them as their own inventions, so long as Westinghouse could make use of them. Very generous even compared to today.
Right! Not only did he let them file a patent in their own name, he would then put the inventors name on the product. I don’t know any other company that did or does that.
Today you would be the co-inventor to whoever is feeling responsible for technology on the board of your company. I checked this in my company years ago, when I knew the actual inventors of some of the patents.
@@fromgermany271 yes, this happened to me recently where I presented new technology to senior company management and one of the managers told me to patent the idea as their invention! First time this has happened to me after many patents.
The magical super-intellect Nikola Tesla has become in pop culture has required Westinghouse and Edison to be cast as evil thugs. They were all just people who earned a level of power and notoriety that has historically been very hard for men to deal with. Westinghouse seems to have been more successful at attaining personal happiness than either Tesla or Edison.
Great to see you giving George Westinghouse the dignity that he deserves. None of this surprises me however. I read a book about Westinghouse when I was in grade 5, and he's been a hero to me ever since. In the age of 'robber barons', where most industrialists were monsters, Westinghouse was uniquely descent, kind and caring. My favourite story involved an irate employee who was frustrated at being unable to successfully complete a task. His timing was poor however, because at the same moment he was having his meltdown on the shop floor, Westinghouse happened to be giving a tour to some dignitaries. One can only imagine how other employers might have reacted. Westinghouse however, approached the employee and calmly asked him what the problem was. After the shock at seeing his boss subsided, the man explained the problem. Westinghouse put on a work vest and proceeded to spend the next 20 minutes showing the man exactly how to do the task correctly. When he was satisfied that the man understood ... he simply continued with the tour. Edison has 1093 patents to his name vs Westinghouse with 380. One might be inclined to think Edison won in this regard, until you realize that Westinghouse allowed his employees to file patents in their own names, whereas all inventions by Edison's employees were filed in Edison's name. Edison was not a patent troll ... but he leaned in this direction, whereas Westinghouse's patents ... were all genuine. Imagine a World where people treat others, including their employees, with this level of respect.
Exactly! That is why it makes me so upset to see him insulted or ignored. I was also thinking about how Westinghouse only let people file patents while working for him but also put their name on his devices (even if the person wasn’t at all famous like Schallenberger)! that seems unheard of then or now.
Certainly Westinghouse was given short shrift by historians, but the deification of Tesla in recent years is beyond belief! By rights, Tesla deserves to go down in history with Lee de Forest as an "inventor" who couldn't explain how his inventions worked. It was the Westinghouse company that actually made a salable product out of what Tesla brought them. Yes, it was George Westinghouse who was the visionary all along.
The two Steve’s of Apple come to mind, Wozniak wanted to give the computer away. Jobs saw the marketing and economic value. Individually, nothing may have come of their works, but working together they changed the world!
Unlike Lee De Forest Tesla actually knew how his invention works. And Lee De Forest did not make the first triode, the first was made a few month before him by Robert von Lieben.
@@mernokimuvek by the same token, Galileo Ferraris made the first polyphase motors before Tesla registered only drawings with the US Patent Office. And the fact that Tesla couldn't figure out 3-phase power, adding three more wires to a drawing that was otherwise identical to Ferraris' invention, I'd say that his understanding was pretty low. Also worth noting that Westinghouse had to bring in actual engineers to develop Tesla's patent into a working product.
@@StringerNews1 3 more wires? NO. Tesla originally used 4 wires for 2 phase and 6 wires for 3 phase. Tesla got the idea about the rotating magnetic field in 1882 when walking at a park in Budapest with Antal Szigeti. He built a working motor in 1883. The great mistake Ferraris made was that he believed it would never achieve 50% or higher efficiency.
Self promotion seems to last a lot longer than the lives of the self promoters. Tesla, Edison, and Marconi are far better know and liked than Westinghouse, Maxwell, Lodge, Faraday, Cavendish, and Steinmetz. Thank you for bringing us the stories of some of the less promoted. Didn't Westinghouse witness a horrible train accident as a kid that was due to the limitations of the braking system of the time which was the brakeman having to run on the roof of the train cars and turn a wheel on each car? I think I read somewhere that's what inspired him to invent the air brake. His inventions saved many lives. I'm so looking forward to your book.
Excellent discussion again Kathy. Thanks for all your hard work in uncovering the source material. I believe every physics school student should be set compulsory viewing of every video you put out that is on topic!
I was surprised to learn Westinghouse had a negative reputation. My understanding was the opposite. He was very unlike the robber barrens of the turn of the contrary, he was a generous person. If I remember correctly, forget where I read it, he supported financially Tesla late in Tesla's life.
Kathy, you have done right by George Westinghouse. Recently discovered that in a similar way, he bought , and then invested in the inventor of the electric range and automatic electric toaster - Flint Michigan native Floyd Copeman (and happens to be a grandparent of Linda Ronstadt). I believe deep digging will reveal that GW in fact, was this way with many others too.
I often play this old videogame (originally a board game) "1830 robbers and barons", which is loosely speaking "railroad monopoly" (but better) and you have to play as one of said "robber barons", I rarely pick up Westinghouse, but after watching your fascinating apology of him, I will from now on. Also thanks for calrifying all those legends about Tesla.
Kathy, thanks for the further insight into George Westinghouse. This also helps to paint a better picture of Nikola Tesla, which picture is sadly missing in popular culture. The Westinghouse company built a large rotating equipment factory in Tampa long years ago before the corporation moved towards land development in Florida. The site of the Westinghouse factory is now a high rise condominium. As Florida developers go, sadly a sorry bunch if you really study them, I found the Westinghouse development people to be fair and ethical, especially compared with their contemporaries. My opinion of Westinghouse Development Company (WDC) now squares much better with the history of the Westinghouse Electric company, with much thanks to you!
When I was a kid, I read many books about this Era of electrical engineers. I always respected Westinghouse more than others and wished to be like him if I ever succeeded big. Funny what we remember as we grow older.
So annoying that my bringing-up was so misinformed all the time, also at school. :) We have the tendency to just accept well-known "facts". I've seen this everywhere, just recently I saw it mentioned on a cooking channel (of all places), where something was always mentioned to be true, even in scientific papers(!) referencing the same source. Which turned out to be a simple hoax source. * sigh *
Your videos are always great! I was a client of both Westinghouse (now ABB) & GE electric power divisions for many years. Very smart people at both, and all treated me well. I do have to say the Westinghouse folk were kindler & gentler while the GE people were a little more hard-headed money-first business people. Reflecting their founders?
That was just an excellent video, thank you Kathy. Gave me much more of a background of the history of electricity that I woud like to have understood at the beginning of my career, not long after the end of it. If Tesla was a scientist, Westinghouse was the engineer. It seems his interest was that technology be put into use. So he saw (as I interpret it) that patents often had the effect of suppressing advances in technology, because people were reluctant to put lots of effort into developing ideas, where everything could be thwarted by excessive demands for royalties. I read a historical novel about Tesla, Edison and Westinghouse that presented Tesla as arriving in the US with all the essential ideas for three-phase power worked out. (I do not have the publication details) . Edison rejected his ideas but Westinghouse adopted them . That book presented Westinghouse as the man who had the vision to put scientific discoveries into practical use. I guess that for people like that, the big reward was in getting his ideas adopted for public good. But what incredible courage and strength to pay good wages, and to pay the price demanded for those patent rights he needed.
I've always known this of Westinghouse. I only read, though disagreed, with the false Tesla stories later and it always confused me why they were so popular. I suppose it is the hero worship of Tesla who did some great things and some great failures as everyone does. People never seem to have a nuanced view of famed people viewing them as saints or demons.
As with every other bit of work you've shared on UA-cam, the care you take with research and digging out those primary sources is remarkable. I look forward for your next video and I'm on my way to buy your book. Thank you for that brilliant history of electricity.
There's a strange cult-like overvaluing of Tesla. That's not to say Tesla wasn't an important inventor and contributor to the history of practical development of electrification. It's just that people latch on to him as an example of personal worries that 'big forces really control the world and they hated _____'. Insert into the blank whatever it is that you feel has been insufficiently recognized. It's a conspiracy theory mindset that doesn't past scrutiny of primary sources. Thank you for giving us the real story!
It's so nice to get these ever-fascinating stories straight. It's not clear what if anything remains of the original Westinghouse Electric Company after what appears to have been its disastrous focus on the nuclear power industry. As far as I can tell, its most direct descendant is a company that licenses the Westinghouse brand name. I'm not sure they actually make any products themselves. OTOH, a descendant of the Westinghouse Air Brake Company, Wabtec, still manufacturers railroad equipment, including braking systems and even locomotives. In the latest of many entanglements between Westinghouse and GE, Wabtec merged with GE's locomotive division, GE Transportation, in 2019.
Love your way of conveying the truth and the secrets of past inventors. Not many can hold my attention as you do. You are doing a super job at this. Hope you never get burnt out with it. 🙂
One of your best videos ever! Someone should do video about the history of history and how many lies and agendas are codified by nefarious historians. I see it all the time in current events, and it’s not new.
The negative view of Westinghouse is new to me. The documentaries I've seen on youtube typically present him as the super nice guy contrast to ruthless Edison.
As far as I know, Tesla and Westinghouse were good friends outside of a purely partnership relationship. In addition, understanding something in psychology, I can say that Tesla almost certainly showed a difficult character in a close circle of friends / relatives.
Thanks for this Kathy, I've always thought Westinghouse an unlikely villain and it seems history is now validating that suspicion. Looking forward to find out how the rumor got started!
Westinghouse was a really great guy and its a travesty that people don’t know more about him. America would be a better place if more business people followed his example.
Except for the contract with Tesla, everything I've read or seen about Westinghouse indicates he was an excellent engineer, generous in business deals, fair boss. He was not greedy or egotistical. The electrical contract didn't make sense. The royalties were so excessive, the business would be untenable from the beginning.
Beautiful work, thank you Kathy! Digging out details on why Wardenclyffe was shut down would be really interesting too. I used to think it was simply that such wireless transmission couldn't be properly secured to prevent theft by anyone who cared to float a conductive balloon. But I suspect the story is more interesting than that.
good for you dear Kathy!! bring up the truth and smash out those early conspirators I always suspect that nobody did anything alone, they always " step on giant shoulders"
Not to be a well actually kind of person but he was born near Schenectady and went to college for a semester in Schenectady before his professor told him that as he wouldn’t study German and all he did was draw figures of machines that maybe he should quit. But Schenectady still loves him and for good reason
A year late to the party here, but I just hit the "Like" and "Subscribe" buttons! Thankful for your curious mind and generous heart - am citing your work in an assignment, Ms. Lady.
3:41 "If Tesla was paid a lump sum for his royalties in 1896, it was impossible that he ripped up a contract for those royalties. In 1891." But, PBS reported that Tesla agreed to "rescind the royalty clause" in 1891, not that he "ripped up the contract" as you state. It seems plausible that Tesla rescinded royalties in 1891. Then in 1896 Westinghouse honorably repaid Tesla for rescinding the royalties. The payment was $216,600 ($7.65 million in 2022) . It wasn't until that time that Westinghouse felt it ethical to announce the completion of the purchase. Perhaps Tesla should be reprimanded for accepting $7.65 million in 2022 dollars. That would not make anyone "one of the richest men in history."
Dear Kathy, I was wandering for very long time, when are you going to make a video about the only man who has been 84 times nominated for NP, but never got it. Prof. Arnold Sommerfeld!! Please, I beg you do it!!
Both Westinghouse and Edison were famous inventors and are still well known Other than that there is no comparison, Westinghouse was a good and honorable man, Edison wasn’t.
What I've read, there was a generous lump sum payment, from Westinghouse to Tesla, but also, while Westinghouse was alive, he'd fund any of Tesla's projects. Money got tight, only after Westinghouse died.
G Westinghouse was one of the first CEO's that cared for his employees. He inspired the five day work week. He also paid for Tesla's up keep at the end of his life. Edison was less than ethical in his business dealings.
Dear Kathy, I loved this video lecture as I love all those that I've watched so far. Thank you for setting the record straight for me; this helps me enjoy the history that much more. I've received your book yesterday and I started reading it last night. This morning on my commute I was undecided: should I watch your new video or read on in your book? Well, I'll continue with the book on my way home. Have a great day. Cheers, Mark
I love Ms. Kathy's descriptions and analysis. She teaches so a high school freshman could understand which means she knows her material. Anyone who teaches with high brow technicals probably does not fully understand what they are trying to "teach" or even talk about.
Dear Kathy, please make a timeline resume, one for Electrostatics and other starting from around voltas battery and ahead, Why because all that amount of information is so ,huge and I want to come to conclusions with your invaluable knowledge, here some say that tesla was a scientific nerd and Westinghouse the engineer... I doubt it, in my humble opinion tesla was a trial and error doer , he had great inventions no doubt but i think he only went further over others discoveries, like going to limits the Ruhmkorf´s coil he came up with his tesla coil, his simple disk turbine lead him to the induction motor, not because he knew math or rotating fields theory (no body did at that time, nor have scopes to see) just by playing around..... Edison was not the only one who invented light bulbs, nor Tesla invented alone the transformer, did he really invented 3 phase generation transmission and motors? I think of him as an inventor who went mad, and westinghouse with foot down to earth did not support him on his insane tesla tower, I´sorry too long.... your job brings up my passion . cheers
It is news to me that Westinghouse was anything other than ethical and generous person. There is a 90 minute UA-cam video on his life which is excellent. The lump sum payment to Tesla is well known and would be worth $millions today.
Great video. George Westinghouse is overdue for some honest reporting about his achievements and fair treatment of his workers. Also... The "frog" you mentioned was not for rerailing train wheels. It is used in switches where the rails cross over.
@@Kathy_Loves_Physics I know he invented the switch frog. He might have also invented the rerailer which lifts up a derailed train wheel onto the track.
Thank you for this great video! I worked for Westinghouse from 1975 to 1993 and started my career at the original Factory where the largest hydroelectric generators were made. I would like to read more about the development of the various Westinghouse manufacturing facilities in the first half of the 20th century
Very interesting, I picked up your book on Amazon UK kindle version, looking forward to it. I heard you discuss it with Dave Jones on the EEvblog sounds cool.
"Solitude" was demolished after World War I and the entire estate (A city block square) is now Westinghouse Park that straddles the Point Breeze and Homewood neighborhoods.
You obviously do extensive research for your historical videos. I have really enjoyed the few I've seen to date, and especially enjoy your wonderful enthusiasm! 😊
I'm going off on a tangent here with the theme related to hydrostations generators and my conspiracy gripe that comes to mind (among others) for some reason when thinking about this topic... why can't more fluid bearing be critically calculated and integrated into more systems to bring down the expenses and increase the operating lifecycle? I missed this video until now and is great, at the least, as always.
As an IBEW electrician, during my apprenticeship classes Tesla got a couple of mentions, but was not considered to be more than a clever engineer who, along with others, furthered our understanding of the practical use of electrical power. From what I have learned since, he was a total whack job, who seems to attract more whack jobs to this day.
At 10:12 I meant to say natural gas was cleaner than coal not safer than coal. sorry
I've dropped the odd sack of coal on my foot in my time, I think you were right the first time...
Natural gas, being mostly non-toxic methane, is very much safer than the coal gas (also known as town gas or illuminating gas) being used at the time. Coal gas is largely carbon monoxide. Perhaps that was Westinghouse's motivation.
It's safer than coal, for the miner By a lot.
I thought you meant safer in terms of health.
This lady is a Jewish angel.
Tesla's enormous respect and affection for George Westinghouse is readily apparent with just a bit of digging through the historic record. George Westinghouse was an atypical man of his time in many ways. In the end, the Electric Company was his pride and joy and its loss from the Panic of 1907 crushed and ultimately crushed his soul. He's a great man who should be honored for a life well spent at improving life quality for everyone.
Excellent video as usual. I have read that unlike Edison, Westinghouse let the employees who came up with ideas on company time, patent them as their own inventions, so long as Westinghouse could make use of them. Very generous even compared to today.
Right! Not only did he let them file a patent in their own name, he would then put the inventors name on the product. I don’t know any other company that did or does that.
Today you would be the co-inventor to whoever is feeling responsible for technology on the board of your company. I checked this in my company years ago, when I knew the actual inventors of some of the patents.
@@fromgermany271 yes, this happened to me recently where I presented new technology to senior company management and one of the managers told me to patent the idea as their invention! First time this has happened to me after many patents.
The magical super-intellect Nikola Tesla has become in pop culture has required Westinghouse and Edison to be cast as evil thugs. They were all just people who earned a level of power and notoriety that has historically been very hard for men to deal with. Westinghouse seems to have been more successful at attaining personal happiness than either Tesla or Edison.
Great to see you giving George Westinghouse the dignity that he deserves.
None of this surprises me however. I read a book about Westinghouse when I was in grade 5, and he's been a hero to me ever since. In the age of 'robber barons', where most industrialists were monsters, Westinghouse was uniquely descent, kind and caring.
My favourite story involved an irate employee who was frustrated at being unable to successfully complete a task. His timing was poor however, because at the same moment he was having his meltdown on the shop floor, Westinghouse happened to be giving a tour to some dignitaries. One can only imagine how other employers might have reacted. Westinghouse however, approached the employee and calmly asked him what the problem was. After the shock at seeing his boss subsided, the man explained the problem. Westinghouse put on a work vest and proceeded to spend the next 20 minutes showing the man exactly how to do the task correctly. When he was satisfied that the man understood ... he simply continued with the tour.
Edison has 1093 patents to his name vs Westinghouse with 380. One might be inclined to think Edison won in this regard, until you realize that Westinghouse allowed his employees to file patents in their own names, whereas all inventions by Edison's employees were filed in Edison's name. Edison was not a patent troll ... but he leaned in this direction, whereas Westinghouse's patents ... were all genuine.
Imagine a World where people treat others, including their employees, with this level of respect.
Exactly! That is why it makes me so upset to see him insulted or ignored. I was also thinking about how Westinghouse only let people file patents while working for him but also put their name on his devices (even if the person wasn’t at all famous like Schallenberger)! that seems unheard of then or now.
Certainly Westinghouse was given short shrift by historians, but the deification of Tesla in recent years is beyond belief! By rights, Tesla deserves to go down in history with Lee de Forest as an "inventor" who couldn't explain how his inventions worked. It was the Westinghouse company that actually made a salable product out of what Tesla brought them. Yes, it was George Westinghouse who was the visionary all along.
In (for my age too) modern terms:
Tesla was the nerd and
Westinghouse was the maker.
Both deserve to be honored for what they did.
The two Steve’s of Apple come to mind, Wozniak wanted to give the computer away. Jobs saw the marketing and economic value. Individually, nothing may have come of their works, but working together they changed the world!
Unlike Lee De Forest Tesla actually knew how his invention works. And Lee De Forest did not make the first triode, the first was made a few month before him by Robert von Lieben.
@@mernokimuvek by the same token, Galileo Ferraris made the first polyphase motors before Tesla registered only drawings with the US Patent Office. And the fact that Tesla couldn't figure out 3-phase power, adding three more wires to a drawing that was otherwise identical to Ferraris' invention, I'd say that his understanding was pretty low. Also worth noting that Westinghouse had to bring in actual engineers to develop Tesla's patent into a working product.
@@StringerNews1 3 more wires? NO. Tesla originally used 4 wires for 2 phase and 6 wires for 3 phase. Tesla got the idea about the rotating magnetic field in 1882 when walking at a park in Budapest with Antal Szigeti. He built a working motor in 1883. The great mistake Ferraris made was that he believed it would never achieve 50% or higher efficiency.
Self promotion seems to last a lot longer than the lives of the self promoters. Tesla, Edison, and Marconi are far better know and liked than Westinghouse, Maxwell, Lodge, Faraday, Cavendish, and Steinmetz. Thank you for bringing us the stories of some of the less promoted. Didn't Westinghouse witness a horrible train accident as a kid that was due to the limitations of the braking system of the time which was the brakeman having to run on the roof of the train cars and turn a wheel on each car? I think I read somewhere that's what inspired him to invent the air brake. His inventions saved many lives. I'm so looking forward to your book.
Add Reginald Fessenden to your list of little known inventors.
Excellent discussion again Kathy. Thanks for all your hard work in uncovering the source material. I believe every physics school student should be set compulsory viewing of every video you put out that is on topic!
I was surprised to learn Westinghouse had a negative reputation. My understanding was the opposite. He was very unlike the robber barrens of the turn of the contrary, he was a generous person. If I remember correctly, forget where I read it, he supported financially Tesla late in Tesla's life.
Funny how that works. The 'robber barons' all have mainstream support. Propaganda is a strong thing
Kathy, you have done right by George Westinghouse. Recently discovered that in a similar way, he bought , and then invested in the inventor of the electric range and automatic electric toaster - Flint Michigan native Floyd Copeman (and happens to be a grandparent of Linda Ronstadt).
I believe deep digging will reveal that GW in fact, was this way with many others too.
What a turn a round from what we all believed! Good research Kathy! And a late congrats on the 100k subs!
I often play this old videogame (originally a board game) "1830 robbers and barons", which is loosely speaking "railroad monopoly" (but better) and you have to play as one of said "robber barons", I rarely pick up Westinghouse, but after watching your fascinating apology of him, I will from now on.
Also thanks for calrifying all those legends about Tesla.
Kathy, thanks for the further insight into George Westinghouse. This also helps to paint a better picture of Nikola Tesla, which picture is sadly missing in popular culture. The Westinghouse company built a large rotating equipment factory in Tampa long years ago before the corporation moved towards land development in Florida. The site of the Westinghouse factory is now a high rise condominium. As Florida developers go, sadly a sorry bunch if you really study them, I found the Westinghouse development people to be fair and ethical, especially compared with their contemporaries. My opinion of Westinghouse Development Company (WDC) now squares much better with the history of the Westinghouse Electric company, with much thanks to you!
When I was a kid, I read many books about this Era of electrical engineers. I always respected Westinghouse more than others and wished to be like him if I ever succeeded big.
Funny what we remember as we grow older.
So annoying that my bringing-up was so misinformed all the time, also at school. :) We have the tendency to just accept well-known "facts". I've seen this everywhere, just recently I saw it mentioned on a cooking channel (of all places), where something was always mentioned to be true, even in scientific papers(!) referencing the same source. Which turned out to be a simple hoax source. * sigh *
Your videos are always great! I was a client of both Westinghouse (now ABB) & GE electric power divisions for many years. Very smart people at both, and all treated me well. I do have to say the Westinghouse folk were kindler & gentler while the GE people were a little more hard-headed money-first business people. Reflecting their founders?
Love your videos. As a fan of science and discovery I always learn many new things from you.
That was just an excellent video, thank you Kathy. Gave me much more of a background of the history of electricity that I woud like to have understood at the beginning of my career, not long after the end of it.
If Tesla was a scientist, Westinghouse was the engineer. It seems his interest was that technology be put into use. So he saw (as I interpret it) that patents often had the effect of suppressing advances in technology, because people were reluctant to put lots of effort into developing ideas, where everything could be thwarted by excessive demands for royalties.
I read a historical novel about Tesla, Edison and Westinghouse that presented Tesla as arriving in the US with all the essential ideas for three-phase power worked out. (I do not have the publication details) . Edison rejected his ideas but Westinghouse adopted them . That book presented Westinghouse as the man who had the vision to put scientific discoveries into practical use.
I guess that for people like that, the big reward was in getting his ideas adopted for public good.
But what incredible courage and strength to pay good wages, and to pay the price demanded for those patent rights he needed.
I've always known this of Westinghouse. I only read, though disagreed, with the false Tesla stories later and it always confused me why they were so popular. I suppose it is the hero worship of Tesla who did some great things and some great failures as everyone does. People never seem to have a nuanced view of famed people viewing them as saints or demons.
As with every other bit of work you've shared on UA-cam, the care you take with research and digging out those primary sources is remarkable. I look forward for your next video and I'm on my way to buy your book. Thank you for that brilliant history of electricity.
Thanks 🙏
Westinghouse was like a modern Leonardo da Vinci.
Thank you so much, Kathy. Another enlightening essay.
There's a strange cult-like overvaluing of Tesla. That's not to say Tesla wasn't an important inventor and contributor to the history of practical development of electrification. It's just that people latch on to him as an example of personal worries that 'big forces really control the world and they hated _____'. Insert into the blank whatever it is that you feel has been insufficiently recognized. It's a conspiracy theory mindset that doesn't past scrutiny of primary sources.
Thank you for giving us the real story!
It's so nice to get these ever-fascinating stories straight. It's not clear what if anything remains of the original Westinghouse Electric Company after what appears to have been its disastrous focus on the nuclear power industry. As far as I can tell, its most direct descendant is a company that licenses the Westinghouse brand name. I'm not sure they actually make any products themselves. OTOH, a descendant of the Westinghouse Air Brake Company, Wabtec, still manufacturers railroad equipment, including braking systems and even locomotives. In the latest of many entanglements between Westinghouse and GE, Wabtec merged with GE's locomotive division, GE Transportation, in 2019.
Love your way of conveying the truth and the secrets of past inventors. Not many can hold my attention as you do. You are doing a super job at this. Hope you never get burnt out with it. 🙂
Another captivating and informative video! Great work, as always!
I enjoyed this video. And I just received your book.
One of your best videos ever! Someone should do video about the history of history and how many lies and agendas are codified by nefarious historians. I see it all the time in current events, and it’s not new.
The negative view of Westinghouse is new to me. The documentaries I've seen on youtube typically present him as the super nice guy contrast to ruthless Edison.
and the even more ruthless Morgan
As far as I know, Tesla and Westinghouse were good friends outside of a purely partnership relationship. In addition, understanding something in psychology, I can say that Tesla almost certainly showed a difficult character in a close circle of friends / relatives.
Great episode! Thanks, Kathy. I really appreciate your deep research and due diligence.
Thanks for this Kathy, I've always thought Westinghouse an unlikely villain and it seems history is now validating that suspicion. Looking forward to find out how the rumor got started!
Your book was delivered yesterday. Can't wait to get into it!
Another great talk thanks
Westinghouse was a really great guy and its a travesty that people don’t know more about him. America would be a better place if more business people followed his example.
Except for the contract with Tesla, everything I've read or seen about Westinghouse indicates he was an excellent engineer, generous in business deals, fair boss. He was not greedy or egotistical. The electrical contract didn't make sense. The royalties were so excessive, the business would be untenable from the beginning.
Beautiful work, thank you Kathy! Digging out details on why Wardenclyffe was shut down would be really interesting too. I used to think it was simply that such wireless transmission couldn't be properly secured to prevent theft by anyone who cared to float a conductive balloon. But I suspect the story is more interesting than that.
Just received my hardcover copy of The Lightning Tamers today!!!! 😊
Great as always, thanks.
Rejecting an offer, the next person got it and made a ton of money. It happened in the past and still happens again and again
good for you dear Kathy!! bring up the truth and smash out those early conspirators I always suspect that nobody did anything alone, they always " step on giant shoulders"
Off topic, but Westinghouse was a second wizard of Schenectday. He was born there.
Not to be a well actually kind of person but he was born near Schenectady and went to college for a semester in Schenectady before his professor told him that as he wouldn’t study German and all he did was draw figures of machines that maybe he should quit.
But Schenectady still loves him and for good reason
Mainstream even think Edison was beefing with Tesla. However, Edison was beefing with Westinghouse instead.
You deserve your own P.B.S. show.
Congratulations on hitting 100k subscribers! I look forward to congratulating you when you hit 1 million!
I’m looking forward to that too 🤣❤️
Excellent. Looking forward to the next episode.
PBS Does a phenomenal piece on the incredibly generous, wildly intelligent and altruistic man that was George Westinghouse
I actually just found that special. It was very good.
A year late to the party here, but I just hit the "Like" and "Subscribe" buttons! Thankful for your curious mind and generous heart - am citing your work in an assignment, Ms. Lady.
3:41 "If Tesla was paid a lump sum for his royalties in 1896, it was impossible that he ripped up a contract for those royalties. In 1891."
But, PBS reported that Tesla agreed to "rescind the royalty clause" in 1891, not that he "ripped up the contract" as you state.
It seems plausible that Tesla rescinded royalties in 1891. Then in 1896 Westinghouse honorably repaid Tesla for rescinding the royalties. The payment was $216,600 ($7.65 million in 2022) . It wasn't until that time that Westinghouse felt it ethical to announce the completion of the purchase. Perhaps Tesla should be reprimanded for accepting $7.65 million in 2022 dollars. That would not make anyone "one of the richest men in history."
I love you ❤️Thank you so much for your effort, you provide great content
Excellent as always.
Dear Kathy, I was wandering for very long time, when are you going to make a video about the only man who has been 84 times nominated for NP, but never got it. Prof. Arnold Sommerfeld!! Please, I beg you do it!!
Isn't it interesting that two of Edison's competitors, Tesla and Westinghouse were discredited?
Both Westinghouse and Edison were famous inventors and are still well known Other than that there is no comparison, Westinghouse was a good and honorable man, Edison wasn’t.
What I've read, there was a generous lump sum payment, from Westinghouse to Tesla, but also, while Westinghouse was alive, he'd fund any of Tesla's projects. Money got tight, only after Westinghouse died.
Mam, if you can make a video on the forgotten genius Oliver Heaviside.
Westinghouse makes Elon Musk look like a lightweight.
I think you have cleared up the truth. Great job again.
Yea! I got you book today. Excited
Fabulous! Thanks
G Westinghouse was one of the first CEO's that cared for his employees. He inspired the five day work week. He also paid for Tesla's up keep at the end of his life. Edison was less than ethical in his business dealings.
Dear Kathy,
I loved this video lecture as I love all those that I've watched so far.
Thank you for setting the record straight for me; this helps me enjoy the history that much more.
I've received your book yesterday and I started reading it last night. This morning on my commute I was undecided: should I watch your new video or read on in your book? Well, I'll continue with the book on my way home.
Have a great day.
Cheers,
Mark
Cliffhanger!
Westinghouse was great! He made USA great! Thanks!
I love Ms. Kathy's descriptions and analysis. She teaches so a high school freshman could understand which means she knows her material. Anyone who teaches with high brow technicals probably does not fully understand what they are trying to "teach" or even talk about.
Amazing video! Thank you for this.
Dear Kathy, please make a timeline resume, one for Electrostatics and other starting from around voltas battery and ahead, Why because all that amount of information is so ,huge and I want to come to conclusions with your invaluable knowledge, here some say that tesla was a scientific nerd and Westinghouse the engineer... I doubt it, in my humble opinion tesla was a trial and error doer , he had great inventions no doubt but i think he only went further over others discoveries, like going to limits the Ruhmkorf´s coil he came up with his tesla coil, his simple disk turbine lead him to the induction motor, not because he knew math or rotating fields theory (no body did at that time, nor have scopes to see) just by playing around..... Edison was not the only one who invented light bulbs, nor Tesla invented alone the transformer, did he really invented 3 phase generation transmission and motors? I think of him as an inventor who went mad, and westinghouse with foot down to earth did not support him on his insane tesla tower, I´sorry too long.... your job brings up my passion . cheers
Could you do a series on the contributions of women to science.
It is news to me that Westinghouse was anything other than ethical and generous person. There is a 90 minute UA-cam video on his life which is excellent. The lump sum payment to Tesla is well known and would be worth $millions today.
Kathy = Amazing! Thank You!
Good 👍
Brilliant video, loved it!
Thanks for all your work on this history!
Great video. George Westinghouse is overdue for some honest reporting about his achievements and fair treatment of his workers. Also... The "frog" you mentioned was not for rerailing train wheels. It is used in switches where the rails cross over.
Strange, because he invented one when he saw a train that was derailed and complained that it would take too long to try to get back on its track.
@@Kathy_Loves_Physics I know he invented the switch frog. He might have also invented the rerailer which lifts up a derailed train wheel onto the track.
Thanks for clarifying.
Thank you so much for researching this Kathy!
It was so refreshing to hear history set straight. I love your channel and also saw your interview on EEV Blog with Dave Jones.
Thank you for this great video! I worked for Westinghouse from 1975 to 1993 and started my career at the original Factory where the largest hydroelectric generators were made. I would like to read more about the development of the various Westinghouse manufacturing facilities in the first half of the 20th century
You don't get nicknamed Saint George by your employees unless you're doing something right.
I am a YT viewer I find the IPhone portrait format unwatchable. Just IMHO. Cheers, Mark
Very interesting, I picked up your book on Amazon UK kindle version, looking forward to it.
I heard you discuss it with Dave Jones on the EEvblog sounds cool.
So rare to have one person with such a clear grasp of science and history. Great piece of historiography.
Another good presentation, need to watch again without whisky fumes obscuring some points,
"Solitude" was demolished after World War I and the entire estate (A city block square) is now Westinghouse Park that straddles the Point Breeze and Homewood neighborhoods.
Sounds a lot like Steven Jobs using Steve Wozniak to create Apple Computers.
You obviously do extensive research for your historical videos. I have really enjoyed the few I've seen to date, and especially enjoy your wonderful enthusiasm! 😊
Arc lamps dont create carbon gas, carbon only sublimes. And most of the light comes from the glowing solid electrodes, not from the plasma.
I liked Westinghouse appliances in their day. Sorry the company had to die.
I'm going off on a tangent here with the theme related to hydrostations generators and my conspiracy gripe that comes to mind (among others) for some reason when thinking about this topic... why can't more fluid bearing be critically calculated and integrated into more systems to bring down the expenses and increase the operating lifecycle? I missed this video until now and is great, at the least, as always.
Team Westinghouse here! Thanks for this awesome video.
excellent video very informative thank you!
I'm glad you covered this. And in such a caring way.
As an IBEW electrician, during my apprenticeship classes Tesla got a couple of mentions, but was not considered to be more than a clever engineer who, along with others, furthered our understanding of the practical use of electrical power. From what I have learned since, he was a total whack job, who seems to attract more whack jobs to this day.
For some reason I thought Tesla invented the transformer.
Westinghouse must have been on the same level of Tesla or maybe Tesla was by his side!
That sum would be worth very many $M today…
Nice
Wow!
Great video. Thanks.
Westinghouse made my tvs
I am from India. But Amazon India does not sell print version of the Book. Can you help me?
They should print it, please contact support@kathylovesphysics.com and we will look into what’s going on.
Looking forward to audio book