Biography
Early life
On July 10, 1856 in Smiljan, Serbia during a fierce thunderstorm, Nikola Tesla was born. The maid who tended to Nikola's mother claimed that the thunderstorm was a bad omen and that Nikola would be a child of darkness. His mother, Djuka Mandic, disagreed saying that he would be a child of light. Little did his mother know that Nikola would become a man who harnessed lightning.
Nikola was the fourth child of five and Nikola's father, Milutin Tesla, was a Serbian Orthodox Priest. His mother was a homemaker and an inventor. She tinkered with household appliances, finding ways to improve them and make them more efficient. Tesla often attributed his inventive nature to his mother's influence. Tesla's fascination with electricity began in early childhood thanks to his black cat, Macak. Stroking Macak's fur produced crackling sparks of static electricity. In a darkened room, the young Tesla marveled that Macak emitted a luminous halo resembling the aura of light surrounding saints of the Church. His father told him that this was "nothing but electricity." From then onward, Tesla embarked on his life's work of understanding electricity, its transmission, and its uses. Nikola Tesla went on to study at Realschule, Karlstadt in Croatia, the Austrian Polytechnic Institute in Graz, and the University of Prague. His intention was to major in physics and mathematics but he became intrigued by electricity and so he decided to pursue engineering. In 1881, he left the university to became an electrical engineer in Budapest. During his year working in Budapest, he developed the mental image and solution to the problem he had set for himself: the design of an alternating current (AC) electric motor. As Tesla noted later, "the idea came like a flash of lightning" one day while he was walking in a park in Budapest. He stopped walking, and much as did Archimedes, he drew his idea with a stick in the sand on the spot. Not long after that, he immigrated to America with only a few pennies and a letter of introduction from one of Thomas Edison's colleagues in Paris, Mr. Batchellor. The letter from Mr. Batchellor to Mr. Edison stated, "I know of two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." After passing through Ellis Island on June 6, 1884, Tesla presented himself with his letter of introduction to Thomas Edison and was hired as an engineer at Edison Machine Works. Tesla was an excellent worker but he soon quit his job because he could not interest Edison in his AC motors. Edison and his financial backer, J. P. Morgan, were intent on building direct current (DC) power stations and had no interest in developing AC motors or AC power stations. |
The Tesla family.
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Middle life
Tesla decided to create a company to compete with Edison Machine Works, so Tesla, Robert Lane, and Benjamin Vale created Tesla Electric Light and Manufacturing. Tesla was content working in his company until he realized that Lane and Vale did not share his keen interest in inventing new electrical devices. Lane and Vale forced Tesla out of his own company which left Tesla destitute and stripped him of numerous patents which he had created in the name of his company. Enduring difficult financial times, Tesla took up any jobs he could find, including ditch digging.
Fortunately, Tesla did not have to suffer for very long because Alfred Brown and Charles Peck met Tesla in 1886 and offered to back him and a new company under his name. The trio created the Tesla Electric Company. This made Tesla ecstatic; not only did he get a laboratory in Manhatten but also any patents he received would be guarded in his name. Tesla set to work on improving the pyromagnetic generator, building his novel AC electric motors, and electrical power transmission systems. During these years, Tesla invented the induction motor and the transmission of radio waves. He also made the use of x-rays practical and was a major competitor in the Current War. Tesla later decided to move to Colorado Springs to expand his large-scale experiments. In his laboratory, he ran many experiments including the production of artificial lightning. In the year 1900, Tesla left Colorado Springs to build Wardenclyffe Tower, a trans-Atlantic wireless telecommunications facility. Wardenclyffe Tower, located in Wardenclyffe, New York, was finally completed in 1904. He envisioned "an inexpensive receiver, not bigger than a watch" that would allow people to communicate with others anywhere in the world. He was envisioning the modern-day cell phone. With his experiments at Wardenclyffe Tower, Tesla also hoped to develop wireless power transmission, a goal not shared by the copper-mining industry and its shareholders. Also, investors such as J. P. Morgan were concerned that Tesla's wireless power transmission would be free leaving no way to charge people for electrical power. The outbreak of World War I was the final death knell for the tower because he lost many of his overseas investors. Tesla had to abandon the tower and sell it. At this point in his life, Tesla became a bit of a celebrity because of his groundbreaking work. Everyone who met him thought of him as a well-mannered gentleman and genius. |
Tesla around the year 1890.
Tesla meeting King Peter II Karodjordjević of Yugoslavia.
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Late Life
Closer to the end of Tesla's life, his popularity dwindled and he was left more or less alone until his death on January 7, 1943. Nikola Tesla was 86 years old and was found in his room at the New Yorker Hotel. His cause of death was listed as coronary thrombosis. Tesla was cremated and now his ashes reside in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade.
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Tesla in his later years.
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