T is for Thomas and Tesla

Nikola Tesla

Years lived before 1921: Sixty-five

Years Lived after 1921:Twenty-two

Thomas Alva Edison

Years lived before 1921: Seventy-four

Years lived after 1921: Ten

When I decided on people who were living in 1921 as my topic for this year's A to Z challenge, I set a few criteria on deciding exactly who those people would be.  The first of those was that I wasn't going to write about anyone if I was not familiar with them before deciding on the theme.  If you google born in 1921 or died in 1921 or even married in 1921 you come into contact with "famous" people that you have oxymorincally never heard of or only have the vaguest inclination of. I was going to do my best to steer clear of such folks.  Another criterion was to double up and triple up when plausible to feature as many people as I could.

With the letter T those two criteria became some what juxtapostionally opposed. I of course have heard of Thomas Edison and know quite a bit about him.  He's even appeared in this blog a number of times. I have heard of Nikola Tesla but besides Charlotte Nevins Purcell, who my daughter wrote about last week, Tesla is probably the person I know least about.  

Instead of just regurgitating Wikipedia, I think I will instead make a promise to you, the reading public. In order to juggle my 2 jobs, my other myriad responsibilities, and the a to z challenge, I have pretty much given up recreational reading in the month of April.  When the challenge comes to an end, I will find and read a  biography on Tesla. There is also  a movie I have been meaning to see called The Current War which is a period piece featuring Edison, Tesla and George Westinghouse. My promise is after reading a book and seeing the film, I'll write a more informed post on Edison and Tesla.

I think it's a pretty bright idea.  For more of the a to z challenge click here.