The AIEE presents Tesla the Edison Medal for polyphase and high-frequency work
On 18 May 1917 the AIEE presented Nikola Tesla the Edison Medal, awarded 13 December 1916, ‘for meritorious achievement in his early original work in polyphase and high-frequency electric currents.’ In the causal graph this event strengthens Social Cohesion, a driver that strengthens Having a say in government — an improving welfare path.
Read the full account
On 18 May 1917 the AIEE presented Nikola Tesla the Edison Medal, awarded 13 December 1916, ‘for meritorious achievement in his early original work in polyphase and high-frequency electric currents.’ He had been reluctant to accept an award named for Edison.
Context
The medal is reception of the 1888 system, not a new machine. IEEE/ETHW records the awkwardness of the Edison name. Later popular myth that Tesla refused all honours is false; he appeared and spoke.
Nikola Tesla is not the sole author of every later object, law, or museum label that uses the name. Shared work with courts, excavators, printers, spouses, officials, and later states does not erase a documented role, and it does not make an ancient person the signer of a twentieth-century statute.
Why it matters
Professional-memory path. High confidence on the medal; low on welfare coefficients.
Store the complex reception.
Who was responsible
Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.
Nikola Tesla
PersonDirect responsibility
responsibility level 0.25 · verified
Complex: a professional-society honour about him, not by him. Stored as dated public speech that recognised the 1888–90s work.
What changed
Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.
- FactThe AIEE presents Tesla the Edison Medal for polyphase and high-frequency work
- strengthensDriverSocial Cohesion
- strengthensIndicators (2)Having a say in government
impact weight 0.55 · Effect from 18 May 1917 · verified
A peak engineering medal concentrated professional memory on polyphase and high-frequency currents under Tesla’s name, a cohesion path that still used Edison’s letterhead.
Strengthens · Relationship strength 0.25 (weight 0.55 × strength 0.45)
Observed
29.8% of population aged 16-65 years · 8.13 below the normal line (2023)
Worse than normalTwo readings: 30.2% of population aged 16-65 years (2021) and 29.8% of population aged 16-65 years (2023).
20212023 Above normal = better
Weakens · Relationship strength 0.25 (weight 0.55 × strength 0.45)
Observed
43.9 Score · 43.9 above the normal line (2024)
Worse than normal26 readings, 1996–2024: rose from 43 Score to 43.9 Score.
Normal is zero · any amount = worse
Evidence
The sources behind this fact and its verification state.
- 1.ETHW — IEEE Edison MedalIEEE / ETHW · High credibility · verified
- 2.Engineering and Technology History Wiki — Nikola TeslaIEEE / ETHW · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish
ETHW’s Edison Medal history and ETHW’s Tesla biography independently date the 1916 award and 1917 presentation.
Established: Edison Medal awarded 1916, presented 18 May 1917 to Tesla. Not established: that the medal measured Niagara’s net welfare, or that Tesla never accepted it.
Causal path
How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.
- ActorNikola Tesla
- contributed toFactThe AIEE presents Tesla the Edison Medal for polyphase and high-frequency work
- strengthensDriverSocial Cohesion
- strengthensIndicatorHaving a say in government
Cite this page
Factrail. (2026). The AIEE presents Tesla the Edison Medal for polyphase and high-frequency work. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/us-tesla-edison-medal-1917
https://factrail.ai/facts/us-tesla-edison-medal-1917
Accessed 16 October 2026.
By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed
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