Difficulty Assigning Tesla's True Rank

It has been somewhat difficult to assign to Nikola Tesla, the electrician, his true rank. His eccentricities not infrequently cloud his genuine achievements. But Tesla has recognized merit. The United States Circuit court for the Southern district of Ohio not only maintained his patents but declared that it had “remained for Tesla to solve the problem of transmitting electric power by wire.” In another proceeding in the like court in Connecticut, it was declared that he had discovered and perfected a method by which it is possible “to send to distant cities the power of Niagara.” While Tesla has a wealth of enthusiasm and fertility of imagination, he stands by virtue of his actual achievements in the front rank of electrical investigators and inventors.