Nikola Tesla wasn't just brilliant; his inventions
changed the world in ways that are still visible
every single day.
And though he has had a resurgence in notability
in recent years, with a trendy electric car
company named for him and numerous portrayals
in film and television, he never quite got
his due credit.
Here's what you may not have known about his
life.
The popular legend about how Tesla was born
might be a little too cinematic to be true.
According to Hourly History's Nikola Tesla:
A Life From Beginning to End, Tesla entered
the world in 1856, in what is now Croatia,
in the midst of a horrific lightning storm.
Reportedly, the storm was so bad that the
midwife got the willies and told Tesla's mother
that the baby would be a, quote, "child of
darkness."
Tesla's mother supposedly promptly told the
midwife, "No, he will be a child of light."
Once Tesla's mother, an inventor herself,
introduced science to her son, the boy's future
was clear.
Nikola loved studying science, and his schooling
and research took him to Austria, Prague,
and Budapest, where he ended up working for
the Central Telephone Exchange.
One day on a leisurely walk through the park
in Budapest, he randomly came up with the
idea for what would one day be the induction
motor, one of his greatest inventions.
He soon dreamed of setting sail for the United
States, and at age 28, he finally did so.
According to the Tesla Memorial Society of
New York, Tesla was able to immigrate to the
U.S. because of a recommendation letter inventor
Charles Batchelor wrote to famed "Wizard of
Menlo Park" Thomas Edison, stating,
"I know two great men.
One is you, and the other is this young man."
Tesla promptly went to work for Edison.
At the time, Edison's company was using "direct
current" electricity, and the newbie Tesla
proposed an innovative idea: replacing the
inefficient direct current setup with "alternating
Edison scoffed at this, challenging Tesla
to develop his ideas into a real invention,
putting up $50,000 to sweeten the deal.
Tesla gleefully pounced on the challenge,
and within only a few months, he proudly offered
Edison his successful results.
But Edison refused to pay, brushing Tesla
off with a mean comment about how Tesla didn't
understand, quote, "American humor."
Tesla left Edison's company shortly afterward.
As it turns out, Tesla was right.
While Edison's direct current electricity
flowed in only one direction, Tesla's alternating
current changed direction 50 to 60 times a
second, according to the Tesla Memorial Society
of New York.
Edison's setup required power stations to
be built every 2 miles, making it a huge chore
and financial burden to send power over long
distances.
Tesla's method changed that.
"Direct current may be fine for cities when
the buildings are close together, but most
of your country is empty spaces.
Only high voltage can span the distance."
After Edison stiffed Tesla on his $50,000,
Tesla turned to George Westinghouse for funding.
Westinghouse saw the potential in AC, and
decided to spread Tesla's invention across
the country, powering the entire United States.
Tesla's most notable victory came in 1896,
when one of his inventions harnessed the power
of Niagara Falls, sending electricity all
the way to Buffalo, New York.
Tesla also created the "Tesla coil," which
would become the basis for how radios and
televisions are powered.
He also designed a remote-controlled boat
⁠ a highly fictionalized version of which
appears in the video game Red Dead Redemption
II.
"I am the savior of the mankind, buddy."
He hoped it would forever end the use of manned
battleships, sort of like how drones are used today.
Tesla studied X-rays, invented electric oscillators
and meters, worked with radio communications,
and developed a so-called "earthquake machine."
He told the New York World-Telegram in 1935
that he once triggered such a heavy earthquake
in New York City that the police had rushed
to his lab.
Mythbusters even once tried and failed to
replicate his experiment.
According to PBS, Tesla at one point developed
plans for a "death beam," which he claimed would
"[...] send concentrated beams of particles
through the free air, of such tremendous energy
that they will bring down a fleet of 10,000
enemy airplanes at a distance of 250 miles."
The idea was to develop a weapon so insanely
powerful that it would deter any countries
from ever going to war again.
Tesla also envisioned automated labor and
self-driving cars well before they were feasible.
Tesla's biggest dream was to bring free, wireless
electricity to everyone in the world, according
to Biography.
"Where are the wires?"
"Exactly."
In 1901, banker J.P. Morgan funded Tesla's
dream of building a giant transmission tower
on Long Island, which Tesla called Wardenclyffe.
But that project hit a tragic stumbling block
when Tesla's investors second-guessed whether
he could actually pull it off.
The project ended, the employees were laid
off, and Tesla went into bankruptcy by 1917.
According to History, he once worked a manual
labor job where he dug ditches for $2 a day.
After the financial collapse of Wardenclyffe,
he essentially became a hermit, living on
the 33rd floor of the New Yorker Hotel, his
primary companions being the pigeons who visited
him there.
It's been theorized that Tesla may have had
obsessive-compulsive disorder.
He was intensely careful about avoiding germs,
washing his hands constantly, and avoiding
handshakes at all costs, according to Prodigal
Genius.
He was also apparently obsessed with the number
three.
He would walk around a building three times
before entering, and wash his hands three
times in a row.
The Smithsonian raises the possibility that
he may also have been on the autism spectrum,
citing his intense sensitivity to sounds,
excellent sensory awareness, and severe dislike
for both pearls and women's earrings.
By the time he died in his hotel room in 1943,
Tesla was seen as more of a bizarre science
fiction spectacle than a brilliant icon, a
perception which the Smithsonian argues may
have been created by Tesla's, quote, "willingness
to play the mad scientist," by making wild
claims in tabloid magazines.
According to a New York Times piece from 1984,
it wasn't until nearly 40 years after Tesla's
death that society began to acknowledge the
sheer magnitude of his impact on the world.
A brand new Tesla statue was unveiled on Long
Island in 2013, and the Wardenclyffe site
has been converted into the Tesla Science
Center.
The airport in Belgrade, Serbia, proudly displays
Nikola Tesla's name.
And, there are, of course, the electric cars
that bear his name.
Though Nikola Tesla struggled throughout his
life, the history books will look back on him fondly.
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