Thomas Edison vs. Nikola Tesla

Submission 6,542

About

Thomas Edison vs. Nikola Tesla refers to the feud between American inventor Thomas Edison, credited with the invention of the lightbulb, and Nikola Tesla a long-time lesser known inventor. The two feuded in the 1880s over their competing electrical systems (AC current and DC current).^[2]

Origin

The exact origin of Thomas Edison vs. Nikola Tesla is unknown. The earliest known example was a rage comic published by Awesome Blog with everything^[1] to BlogSpot on July 24th, 2012 (shown below).

Spread

Images regarding the feud have passed through different subreddits and social media platforms since then. For example, on November 5th, 2018, Redditor kaurkal posted an image of a dog imitating a picture of himself to /r/historymemes^[5] labeling the two items Tesla's ideas and Thomas Edison as the imitator (shown below, left). The image gained 2,100 points (98% upvoted) in a year. On February 4th, Yashdeepkanhai^[6] posted a "I'm someonewhat of a scientist myself" image to Instagram gaining 55 likes in a year (shown below, right).

Many iterations have been posted to /r/dankmemes. On November 3rd, Redditor PapaSean924 posted an image to /r/dankmemes []comparing Tesla to Reddit and Edison to Instagram during the height of the Reddit vs. Instagram war. The post gained 15,900 points (95% upvoted) in three months (shown below, left). On February 16th 2018, Redditor HolyAvatarHS posted^[4] a fake reason for why the feud began (shown below, right).

Edison's Birthday

On February 10th, 2019, Redditor lendvaipeti posted an image to /r/dankmemes^[1] with the caption, "Tomorrow is Thomas Edison's birthday. Let's steal his day, like he did Tesla's inventions and celebrate Nikola Tesla with memes instead!" (shown below). The post accumulated 35,900 points (87% upvoted) in four days.

The next day, Redditor random_9001 posted a to /r/dankmemes^[7] fastest draw in the west image with the caption "When it's already Thomas Edison's birthday in Australia so you can post Tesla memes, fastest current in the west" (shown below, left). The post gained 28,000 points (95% upvoted) in several days. Redditor xjxhsyzg, followed^[8] with a whatcha got there meme featuring Nikola Tesla hiding alternating current from Thomas Edison (shown below, right). The image garnered 9,500 points (98% upvoted) in three days.

That day, YouTuber MeemMemes posted a video entitled "Thomas Edison Birthday Memes | Nikola Tesla Memes" (shown below).