Why didn't Tesla shake Westinghouse's hand ?

Shaking hands was just one of the many phobias and idiosyncrasies Tesla had as stated in the film.


Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana. -Groucho Marx

He was a germophobe and likely OCD as well.

On the DVD extras, they mention that Tesla often asked people to stand six feet away from him. Tesla thought that the energy of humans could interrupt another person's energy and was concerned about how this might affect the work he was able to do.