Five High-Tech Genius Inventors Who Were Swindled

We all know about the Alexander Graham Bells, Thomas Edisons, Steven Jobs, and Elon Musks, who make up a large portion of the “Great American Inventor” myth. In actual fact, these four are better examples of “Entrepreneurs who knew how to take other’s ideas, make money, and take all the credit”. There are many others who did the actual inventing, had their ideas stolen (or bought on the cheap).

Statue of Philo Farnsworth, perhaps the most prominent “least recognized and most-swindled” inventor. If there was any justice, we’d all be streaming shows on a “Farnsworth” instead of a Television.

Nikolai Tesla: Let’s start with the “most famous inventor guy who didn’t get enough credit”, Nikola Tesla. Besides being delightfully quirky, Tesla’s main contribution to inventing was the ac motor, which became the basis for our electrical grid. Never mind that though, the Thomas Edison invention machinery took most of the credit for inventing light bulbs, electricity, and everything else. Without Nikola Tesla (and if you talked to Elon Musk, also himself), you might say that the electric car may not have been possible. But in actual fact, two other relative unknowns developed the key electric car components, the first practical battery (invented by Gaston Plante in 1859), and the DC motor (invented by Frank Sprague, an Edison engineer, in the 1880s). You might accurately say that without Nikola Tesla, we couldn’t have CHARGED the batteries, but that’s complicated. This all goes to show that there are many people involved in modern inventions, and the one with the…