Mad science milestones

[unixronin]

Nikola Tesla, humanity's most successful and arguably most brilliant Mad Scientist to date, was born 152 years ago today (well ... OK, sometime last night, it seems no-one exactly knows whether it was July 9 or July 10) in Smiljan, Croatia.

Remember, mad science means never having to say "Hey, what's the worst that could happen?"

Comments

[glitch25.livejournal.com]

Mad Science also means never having to deal with the consequences that follow the phrase, "Hey.. check this out!"

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

That's one step away from "Hold mah beer and watch this..."

And then there's his namesake.

[dakiwiboid.livejournal.com]

The Tesla Roadster (http://www.teslamotors.com/) sounds neato.

Re: And then there's his namesake.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Indeed. A bit expensive for there to be one in every garage any time soon, though, even assuming that the power grids could handle the added load.

I personally find it disingenuous to tout plug-in hybrids as a major weapon against global warming, as is currently fashionable. Unless the electrical power going to charge them is sourced from renewable clean energy such as wind, solar, hydro, or (for this purpose) nuclear fission, a plug-in hybrid just changes where the carbon is burned. It moves the CO₂ emissions out of sight and out of mind, making them Somebody Else's Problem.

Granted, that argument goes away if you charge them with renewable clean energy. But the hydroelectric resources in the US are pretty much fixed, with no new hydro projects even on the drawing board, and very little is really being done to make a serious effort at building out solar and wind power.

Re: And then there's his namesake.

[smandal.livejournal.com]

Power plant efficiencies are much higher than that of internal combustion engines -- 70% versus 40% (I think(. Also, this sets to the groundwork for eliminating CO2 by moving to nuclear.

Also, Tesla was not mad, he was creative -- he never invented anything of a questionable ethical nature, and his work yielded results.

Re: And then there's his namesake.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Oh, come on, the man invented a death ray. I think we can grant him the accolade. :)

Re: And then there's his namesake.

[smandal.livejournal.com]

It never passed the concept stage -- but I agree, his effort earns him the title :)

More here --

http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/ll_wendwar.html

Re: And then there's his namesake.

[cipherpunk.livejournal.com]

Moving the source of emissions is a pretty big environmental win, for more reasons than just (as another commenter pointed out) because it allows you to move the central location to a more efficient power supply. It also allows you to enact emission controls over the entire automotive fleet at once, as opposed to piecemeal -- look at how long it took to get leaded gasoline off the market, due to the sheer number of old vehicles out there.

But if the prevailing political and economic winds say "this week we're doing carbon sequestration", then bang, you install it at the central location and you're off to the races.

Re: And then there's his namesake.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

An excellent point.

Re: And then there's his namesake.

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

On the Tesla Motors home page, they recommend a company to install a solar PV bank to help charge the roadster, if you are in Kalifornia. They are doing what they can to use what we have much more efficiently.