The Life of Nikola Tesla

Frank Johnson

Nikola Tesla is one of the most brilliant men to have ever lived. He was an electrical and mechanical engineer and has also contributed considerably to some studies of physics (such as electricity and magnetism). He was also a brilliant inventor having created AC electricity (alternating current), neon lights, radio transmission, the modern electric motor, wireless electricity transfer, remote control, hydraulics, robotics, x-rays, lasers, radars and much more things.

He was born in July 9, 1856 in what is considered today Croatia to Serbian parents. According to local legend he was born at midnight during a thunderstorm. Tesla's childhood was filled with unconventional schemes and experimental gadgetry. For his education he went to polytechnic institution at Graz, specializing in physics and mathematics as a young adult. His pastimes included reading many books, supposedly even memorizing many of them he is said to have been gifted with a photographic memory. He was even able to speak in 7 different languages.

His ability to think in pictures (in which he envisioned every single detail of a device) helped him construct many of his inventions. A year after his graduation he created his first invention which he called the “telephone repeater”, which magnified the voice of a person who spoke into it. Soon after in February 1882 discovered the rotating magnetic field which is a fundamental principle of physics and the foundation of practically every device using alternating current.

With his new found invention he went to Budapest and then to Paris to find an investor or support for his alternating-current power system but found no such opportunity. That’s when was invited to come to New York and work for the Edison Company and redesign some of Edison's machines. He then took a ship to America to start his work there. Before getting on the ship he was robbed of all his belongings. But he still managed to get on the ship and arrived in America four cents in his pocket, a book of his own poems, a scientific article and a package of calculations for his plans for a flying machine.

Edison started making him work the next morning, seven days a week. Even though Tesla did not believe in Edison's direct current motors (knowing that his alternating current motors where more efficient) he still worked hard to improve them. Edison told him if he could do that he would give him a bonus of $50,000. Tesla worked day and night because the $50,000 would let him set up his own lab and work on his inventions. He came up with twenty-four new designs to replace the old ones of Edison's. Edison was overjoyed with the results but did not pay Tesla the $50,000 he had promised. When Tesla finally asked him about it, it is said that Edison told him, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor." That is when Tesla left the Edison Company and they became rivals.

After leaving the Edison Co. he met the manager of Western Union Telegraph Company, A.K. Brown. Who believed that Tesla's concept of alternating current was a better system than Edison's. They formed the Tesla Electric Company specifically to develop an alternating current motor. This is when Edison got wind of what Tesla was doing, and then the struggle started to see which form of electrical distribution was the best.

In 1887 George Westinghouse personally wanted to meet Tesla, interested in the AC technology. Westinghouse was a competitor of Edison who owned most of the electric companies. Tesla sold his patents to Westinghouse for $60,000 and decided to work for Westinghouse. He was also supposed to get $2.50 for every horsepower of electricity sold. If that had happened he would have become a billionaire!  

In 1893 Tesla and Westinghouse got the contract to install all the electrical and lighting systems for the Chicago World's Fair. This was the first World's Fair with electricity and proved to be a great success. This event showed that alternating current was the electrical system of the future.

After he had won the war of the currents, he continued to invent more things to benefit mankind, but by making financial mistakes he died with significant debt. Tesla was a man who dedicated most of his life trying to uplift the condition of humankind. Hopefully I’ve interested you enough as to learn more about Tesla a truly underappreciated scientist.

 

References:

• “The People's Almanac”, David Wallechinsky & Irving Wallace, 1975
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla
• "Tesla, Master of Lightning", Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, 1999
• “The man who invented the 20^th century”, Robert Lomas, Lecture
• “Nikola Tesla: The Lost Wizard”, Video on Youtube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSBEYs0rjac&feature=related

 

“Let the future tell the truth and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments, the present is theirs, the future for which I have really worked, is mine.”

Nikola Tesla 1856-1943