Nikola Tesla

Lets just be clear about a few simple truths before we begin. Nikola Tesla was the greatest scientist to have ever lived, if his life wasn't plagued by the lesser minds of business men like the cretinous Tomas Edison then Tesla would be a household name as the father of modern science. Tesla did things alone in the 19th century that teams of scientists cannot replicate to this day. He was quite possibly the smartest person in history and yet he is greatly underrated by many people, the same people who hold up the insane notion that Edison was inventor of the light bulb and father of the modern electrical era. If you are one of these people, take a seat and let me explain everything wrong with your views on scientific history.
Lets start with the common but insane idea that Tomas Edison was the inventor of the light bulb and therefore the man responsible for the electrical age we live in. Besides religion I can't think of anything so commonly accepted and yet so far from reality, Edison did nothing more than work out how to market and sell the ideas that were pioneered by 22 men before him, he invented nothing. Edison also worked hard to prevent to development of(amongst other things) : alternating current, radar, X-rays and wireless electricity. 3 of these are important parts of the modern word Edison was supposed to have helped usher in and one has still not been re-invented, all 4 were the products of the great mind of a certain Serbian who isn't officially credited with their invention because he let other people use build on his work without patenting them to hold back development by other people.
Just a few other things we wouldn't have without Tesla: hydroelectric power, transistors (and therefore computers), remote controls, neon lights, modern motors, wireless communications and radios. I honestly can't think of anyone who has given more to the world than Tesla did. If his work was backed for it's merit and not based on the profit it could generate, then we'd be living with the benefits of Tesla's genius in so many ways. Not least is the wireless power I mentioned earlier, Tesla developed a method of transferring power safely through the atmosphere and was in the process of building a tower that could have provided free electricity to the entire world. Then his funding was cut off, people with money don't like other people having free things so the project was scrapped.
Then, after all that, all his amazing work and every genius invention. Tesla died alone and penniless, shut in a hotel room talking to an imaginary bird. It says far too much about the world that possibly the greatest mind humanity has ever known was lost to the world in that way, I'll leave this post with the same thing I said about Eponine: Tesla deserved so much but ended up dying with nothing.