Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American engineer and physicist who made dozens of breakthroughs in the production, transmission, and application of electric power. He invented the first alternating current (AC) motor and developed AC generation and transmission technology. Even though Tesla was revered, he was never able to gain financial stability through his inventions.
Nikola Tesla was born in 1856 in Smiljan, Croatia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His father was a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Chruch and his mother managed the family farm. In 1863, Tesla's brother Daniel was killed in a riding accident. The shock startled Tesla, who began to report seeing visions. This is thought to be the first sign of his lifelong mental illness.
Tesla studied math and physics at the Technical University of Graz and philosophy at the University of Prague. Surprisingly, while on a walk in 1882, Tesla came up with the idea for a brushless AC motor, drawing his visions in the sand. Soon, Tesla would move to Paris and would get a job repairing DC power plants with the Continental Edison Company. Soon after, he immigrated to the United States.
Tesla arrived in New York in 1884 and was hired as an engineer. He worked there for one year, impressing Thomas Edison. At one point, Edison offered $50,000 if he could improve his DC engine. After months of experiments, Tesla produced the solution. Edison refused to give him the money.
In 1895, Tesla's lab burned down, destroying years' worth of notes and equipment. Tesla spent the last decades of his life in a New York Hotel, working on New Inventions even as his energy and mental health faded. Tesla died in his room on January 7th, 1943.
Fun Facts:
- Tesla had an obsession with the number three.
- During the last few years of his life, Tesla fed and claimed to communicate with pigeons.
- The symptoms of his mental disorders were dismissed as him being eccentric.
Nikola Tesla:
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