Who do you think is more intelligent : Hawking or Tesla?

[phinds]

This is the best Tesla biography I read about him. In the end of a book there is actually a chapter where renowned experts in engineering and science evaluate Tesla's contribution. Also, this book has many references and citations and very few flaws.

Well, I haven't read it so should hold judgement. It's hard because there's this sort of cult of mythology that has grown up around Tesla in the popular press that makes him out to be a FAR more influential figure than he actually was. There are a lot of threads on this forum that discuss this and the consensus is clearly that he is seriously overrated.

 

[zoobyshoe]

It's not Tesla's fault that he's seriously overrated. It's Tesla's own fault that he's overrated. He spent much effort in creating the myth of Tesla, and he was good at it. However, he actually did contribute much to the electrification of the world, and the electrified world is a very different place than the world before it.

It's hard to say what Hawking has contributed, but he functions as a poster boy for physics, much like Tesla was a poster boy for electrical invention.