Here's the New York Times in an article about Nikola Tesla:
Today, his work tends to be poorly known among scientists,
though some call him an intuitive genius far ahead of his
peers. Socially, his popularity has soared, elevating him
to cult status.
Books and Web sites abound. Wikipedia says the inventor
obtained at least 700 patents.
[
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/05/science/05tesla.html]
Everyone knows how reliable Wikipedia is, and cited this way,
the journalist doesn't even have to do any absolute verification
of the "at least 700 patents" figure. (And if it's inflated,
well, that's understandable enough, since the inventor has been
"elevated to cult status", and everyone knows that Wikipedia
is the free encyclopedia anyone can edit.)