Tesla died on 7 January 1943 at age 86 from heart thrombus, alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel.

— Wikipedia on Nikola Tesla

Another influential book was a biography of Nikola Tesla, the brilliant Serb scientist; though Tesla’s contributions arguably matched Thomas Edison’s — and his ambitions were grand enough to impress even Page — he died in obscurity.

“I felt like he was a great inventor and it was a sad story,” says Page. “I feel like he could’ve accomplished much more had he had more resources. And he had trouble commercializing the stuff he did. Probably more trouble than he should’ve had.

I think that was a good lesson. I didn’t want to just invent things, I also wanted to make the world better, and in order to do that, you need to do more than just invent things.”

— p. 13

— In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives

— Steven Levy

2012.05.30 Wednesday ACHK