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{{Short description|Serbian-American engineer and inventor (1856–1943)}} | |||
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| name = Nikola Tesla<br>({{lang|sr|Никола Тесла}}) | |||
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| image = Nikola Tesla.jpg | |||
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| caption = <div style="font-size: 90%">"''I have harnessed the ]s and caused them to operate a motive device.''" - Nikola Tesla; Brooklyn Eagle, ], ].</div> | |||
{{Use American English|date=September 2024}} | |||
| birth_date = ]/] ] | |||
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}} | |||
| birth_place = ], ], ] | |||
{{Infobox engineer | |||
| death_date = ], ] | |||
| native_name = {{nobold|{{lang|sr|Никола Тесла}}}} | |||
| death_place = ], ], ] | |||
| native_name_lang = sr | |||
| occupation = ], ], ] and ] | |||
| image = Tesla circa 1890.jpeg | |||
| ethnicity = ] | |||
| alt = Head-and-shoulder photograph of a slender man with dark hair and moustache, dark suit and white-collar shirt | |||
| nationality = ] | |||
| caption = Tesla, {{circa|1890}} | |||
| salary = | |||
| birth_date = {{birth date|1856|7|10|df=y}} | |||
| networth = | |||
| birth_place = ], ]<br>(now ])<!-- There is consensus against adding ] here --> | |||
| spouse = | |||
| death_date = {{death date and age|1943|1|7|1856|7|10|df=y}} | |||
| website = | |||
| death_place = ], U.S. | |||
| footnotes = | |||
| resting_place = ], ], Serbia | |||
| citizenship = Austria (1856–1891)<br>United States (1891–1943) | |||
| alma_mater = ] (dropped out) | |||
| occupation = {{hlist|Engineer|futurist|inventor}} | |||
| known_for = | |||
| awards = {{ubl | |||
| ] (1892) | |||
| ] (1894) | |||
| ] (1895) | |||
| ] (1931) | |||
| ] (1937) | |||
| ] (1937) | |||
}} | |||
| discipline = {{ubl | |||
| ] | |||
| ]}} | |||
| employer = | |||
| significant_design = ] | |||
| significant_projects = ] | |||
| significant_advance = ] | |||
| significant_awards = {{ubl | |||
|] (1916) | |||
|] (1934)}} | |||
| signature = Nikola Tesla signature 1900.svg | |||
}} | }} | ||
'''Nikola Tesla''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|n|ɪ|k|ə|l|ə| |ˈ|t|ɛ|s|l|ə}};<ref name="Webster's"> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211024010805/https://www.dictionary.com/browse/tesla |date=24 October 2021 }}. '']''.</ref> {{Lang-sr-Cyrl|Никола Тесла}}, {{IPA|sh|nǐkola têsla| }}; 10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) was a<!-- PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE NATIONALITY OR ETHNICITY--> Serbian-American<!-- SEE Talk:Nikola Tesla/Nationality and ethnicity -->{{sfn|Burgan|2009|p=9}}<ref>{{cite news |title=Electrical pioneer Tesla honoured |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/5167054.stm |publisher=BBC News |access-date=20 May 2013 |date=10 July 2006 |archive-date=10 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201010073256/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/5167054.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> engineer, ], and inventor. He is known for his contributions to the design of the modern ] (AC) ] system.<ref>{{cite book |last=Laplante |first=Phillip A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=soSsLATmZnkC |title=Comprehensive Dictionary of Electrical Engineering 1999 |page=635 |publisher=Springer |year=1999 |isbn=978-3-540-64835-2 }}</ref> | |||
'''Nikola Tesla''' (]/], ] – ], ])<ref>http://www.neuronet.pitt.edu/~bogdan/tesla/</ref> was a world-renowned ] ], ], ] and ]. He was born in ], ], then part of the ]. Tesla is regarded as one of the most important inventors in history. He is well known for his contributions to the discipline of ] in the late 19th and early 20th century. ] and theoretical work form the basis of modern ] ] (AC) systems, including the ] ] systems and the ], with which he helped usher in the ]. | |||
Born and raised in the ], Tesla first studied engineering and physics in the 1870s without receiving a degree. He then gained practical experience in the early 1880s working in ] and at ] in the new ]. In 1884 he immigrated to the United States, where he became a ]. He worked for a short time at the ] in New York City before he struck out on his own. With the help of partners to finance and market his ideas, Tesla set up laboratories and companies in New York to develop a range of electrical and mechanical devices. His AC ] and related ] AC patents, licensed by ] in 1888, earned him a considerable amount of money and became the cornerstone of the ] which that company eventually marketed. | |||
In the ], Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in ] or ]. After his demonstration of ] in 1893 and after being the victor in the "]", he was widely respected as America's greatest ]. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. In 1943, the United States Supreme Court credited him as being the ]. Never putting much focus on his finances, Tesla died impoverished and forgotten at the age of 86. | |||
Attempting to develop inventions he could patent and market, Tesla conducted a range of experiments with mechanical ]/generators, ] tubes, and early ]. He also built a ]ly controlled boat, one of the first ever exhibited. Tesla became well known as an inventor and demonstrated his achievements to celebrities and wealthy patrons at his lab, and was noted for his showmanship at public lectures. Throughout the 1890s, Tesla pursued his ideas for wireless lighting and worldwide wireless electric power distribution in his high-voltage, high-frequency power experiments in New York and ]. In 1893, he made pronouncements on the possibility of ] with his devices. Tesla tried to put these ideas to practical use in his unfinished ] project, an intercontinental wireless communication and power transmitter, but ran out of funding before he could complete it. | |||
Tesla's legacy can be seen across ] wherever electricity is used. Aside from his work on ] and engineering, Tesla is said to have contributed in varying degrees to the fields of ], ], ], ], and ]. In his later years, Tesla was regarded as a '']'' and became noted for making bizarre claims about possible scientific developments. <ref>Childress, David Hatcher, (ed.) "''The Tesla Papers: Nikola Tesla on Free Energy & Wireless Transmission of Power''". Adventures Unlimited Press, 2000. ISBN 0-932813-86-0</ref><ref>Lomas, Robert, "''''", Spark of genius. Independent Magazine, ] ].</ref> Many of his achievements have been used, with some ], to support various ]s, ], and ] ]ism. Many contemporary admirers of Tesla have deemed him ''the man who invented the twentieth century''<ref name="book"> (seen 2006-10-10)</ref>. | |||
After Wardenclyffe, Tesla experimented with a series of inventions in the 1910s and 1920s with varying degrees of success. Having spent most of his money, Tesla lived in a series of New York hotels, leaving behind unpaid bills. He died in New York City in January 1943.<ref>{{cite book|last=O'Shei|first=Tim|title=Marconi and Tesla: Pioneers of Radio Communication|year=2008|publisher=MyReportLinks.com Books|isbn=978-1-59845-076-7|page=106}}</ref> Tesla's work fell into relative obscurity following his death, until 1960, when the ] named the ] (SI) measurement of ] the ] in his honor. There has been a resurgence in popular interest in Tesla since the 1990s.<ref>{{harvnb|Van Riper|2011|p=150}}</ref> | |||
== Early years == | |||
According to legend, Tesla was born precisely at midnight during an electrical storm{{fact}}, to a ] family, in the village of ] near ], in the ] region, Croatian part of ]. His baptism certificate reports that he was born on June 28, 1856 (]); July 10 in the ], and ] by the ] priest Toma Oklobdžija. His father was Rev. Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church Metropolitanate of ]. His mother was ], herself a daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest. She was talented in making home craft tools. She memorized epic poems, but never learned to read <ref>Seifer, "Wizard" p 7</ref>.His godfather, Jovan Drenovac, was a captain in the army protecting the ]. Tesla was one of five children, having one brother and three sisters. His family moved to Gospić in 1862. Tesla went to school in ], ] then studied ] at the ] in ], ] (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. He attended only through the first semester of his junior year and did not graduate <ref>"Nikola Tesla und die Technik in Graz", Josef W. Wohinz (Hg.), | |||
Verlag der Technischen Universität Graz, 2006; ISBN-10: 3-902465-39-5; | |||
ISBN-13: 978-3-902465-39-9</ref>. He then attended the Charles-Ferdinand branch of the ] for one summer term where he studied physics and higher mathematics. <ref>Seifer, "Wizard" p20</ref>. | |||
<!-- Unsourced image removed: ] --> | |||
] | |||
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day ] report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain in precise form before moving to the construction stage; a technique which is sometimes known as ]. <ref>Tesla, Nikola, "''''", ''Century'' Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.</ref> | |||
==Early years{{anchor|Parents}}==<!-- ] and ] redirect here --> | |||
===Hungary and France=== | |||
]. The site was made into ].<ref name="tsbirthplace">{{cite web |title=Pictures of Tesla's home in Smiljan, Croatia and his father's church after rebuilding. |url=http://www.teslasociety.com/birthplace.htm |access-date=22 May 2013 |publisher=Tesla Memorial Society of NY |archive-date=2 June 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030602202049/http://www.teslasociety.com/birthplace.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>]] | |||
In 1881 he moved to ], ], to work for a ] company, the American Telephone Company. There, he met Nebojša Petrovič, then a young inventor from Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the ] exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a ] ] or ], but according to others could have been the first ]. <ref>"''''". Twenty First Century Books, Breckenridge, CO 80424-2001.</ref> For a while he stayed in ], ], where he was first employed as an assistant engineer. He suffered a ] during this time. In 1882 he moved to ] to work as an engineer for the ''Continental Edison Company'', designing improvements to electric equipment. In the same year, Tesla conceived of the induction motor and began developing various devices that use ]s (for which he received patents in 1888). | |||
Nikola Tesla was born into an ethnic ] family in the village of ], within the ], in the ] (present-day ]), on 10 July 1856.{{sfn|Cheney|Uth|Glenn|1999|p=143}}{{sfn|O'Neill|1944|pp=9, 12}} His father, Milutin Tesla (1819–1879),{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=14}} was a priest of the ].{{sfn|Dommermuth-Costa|1994|p=12|loc="Milutin, Nikola's father, was a well-educated priest of the Serbian Orthodox Church."}}{{sfn|Cheney|2011|p=25|loc="The tiny house in which he was born stood next to the Serbian Orthodox Church presided over by his father, the Reverend Milutin Tesla, who sometimes wrote articles under the nom-de-plume 'Man of Justice'"}}{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=14|loc="Following a reprimand at school for not keeping his brass buttons polished, he quit and instead chose to become a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church"}}{{sfn|Burgan|2009|p=17|loc="Nikola's father, Milutin was a Serbian Orthodox priest and had been sent to Smiljan by his church."}} His father's brother Josif was a lecturer at a military academy who wrote several textbooks on mathematics.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|page=14}} | |||
Soon thereafter, Tesla hastened from Paris to his mother's side as she lay dying, arriving hours before her death in 1882. Her last words to him were, ''"You've arrived, Nidžo, my pride."'' After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in Gospić and the village of ''Tomingaj'' near ], ], the birthplace of his mother. | |||
Tesla's mother, Georgina "Đuka" Mandić (1822–1892), whose father was also an Eastern Orthodox Church priest,{{sfn|O'Neill|1944|p=10}} had a talent for making home craft tools and mechanical appliances and the ability to memorize ]. Đuka had never received a formal education. Tesla credited his ] and creative abilities to his mother's genetics and influence.{{sfn|Cheney|2001|pp=25-26}}{{sfn|Seifer|2001|p=7}} | |||
===United States=== | |||
In 1884, when Tesla first arrived in the US, he had little besides a letter of recommendation from ], his manager in his previous job. In the letter of recommendation to ], Charles Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his company ''Edison Machine Works''. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was offered the task of a complete redesign of the Edison company's ] ]s. | |||
Tesla was the fourth of five children. He had three sisters, Milka, Angelina, and Marica, and an older brother named Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Tesla was aged six or seven.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=21}} In 1861, Tesla attended primary school in Smiljan where he studied German, arithmetic, and religion. In 1862, the Tesla family moved to the nearby town of ], where Tesla's father worked as parish priest. Nikola completed primary school, followed by middle school. In 1870, Tesla moved to ]{{sfn|Seifer|2001|p=13}} to attend high school at the ] where the classes were held in German, as it was usual throughout schools within the Austro-Hungarian ].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Tesla|first1=Nikola|last2=Marinčić|first2=Aleksandar|title=From Colorado Springs to Long Island: research notes |date=2008|publisher=Nikola Tesla Museum|location=Belgrade|isbn=978-86-81243-44-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Budiansky |first1=Stephen |title=Journey to the edge of reason : the life of Kurt Gödel |date=2021 |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-1-324-00545-2 |edition=First |quote=In the natural sciences, Austria produced a remarkable number of talented theorists and experimentalists. The electrical genius Nikola Tesla, from Croatia, studied in Karlovac at one of the rigorous German-language high schools, the Gymnasiums, established throughout the Austrian Empire.}}</ref> Later in his patent applications, before he obtained American citizenship, Tesla would identify himself as 'of Smiljan, ], border country of ]'.{{sfn|Wohinz|2019|pp=14–15}} | |||
In 1919 Tesla wrote that Edison offered him the then-staggering sum of $50,000 (almost $1 million today, adjusted for inflation ) if he completed the motor and generator improvements. Tesla said he worked nearly a year to redesign them and gave the Edison company several enormously profitable new patents in the process. When Tesla inquired about the $50,000, Edison reportedly replied to him, "''Tesla, you don't understand our American humor,''" and reneged on his promise.<ref>"My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter Feb-June, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN 0-7607-0085-0</ref> Tesla resigned when he was refused a raise to $25 per week. At Tesla's salary of $18 per week the bonus would have amounted to over 53 years pay, and the amount was equal to the initial capital of the company.<ref>Jonnes,"Empire of light" p110</ref> He eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time-- ironically for the Edison company. Edison had also never wanted to hear about Tesla's AC polyphase designs, believing that DC electricity was the future. Tesla focused intently on his AC polyphase system, even while digging ditches.<ref>Cheney, Margaret, "Tesla: Man Out of Time", 1979. ISBN 0-13-906859-7</ref> | |||
{| class="toccolours" style="float:right; margin: 0 0 1em 1em; width:246px; text-align:left; clear:right;" | |||
|'''Electromechanical devices and principles developed by Nikola Tesla''' <ref> ], "" Electrical Experimentor.</ref> : | |||
---- | |||
* Various devices that use ]s (1882) | |||
* The ], rotary transformers, and "high" frequency ]s | |||
* The ], his ], and other means for increasing the intensity of electrical ]s (including condenser discharge transformations and the Tesla oscillator) | |||
* ] ] <ref>Tesla, Nikola, "''''". American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.</ref> (1888) and other methods and devices for ] | |||
* ]s for ] ] (] for the ]) and radio frequency ]s | |||
* ]ics and the "AND" ] <ref>"''''". Twenty First Century Books, Breckenridge, CO. (''ed''., this pertains to the {{US patent|723188}} and {{US patent|725605}})</ref> | |||
* ] ''Tesla currents'' | |||
* Tesla impedance phenonomena | |||
* ] and the Tesla electro static field | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* Tesla insulation | |||
* Forms of ]s and methods of regulating third brushes | |||
* ]s (eg., bladeless turbines) for water, steam, and gas | |||
* Tesla pumps | |||
* Tesla igniter | |||
* Tesla compressor | |||
* ]s Tubes using the ] process | |||
* Devices for ]ized ]es | |||
* Devices for ] | |||
* Devices for ]s | |||
* ] systems | |||
* Methods for providing extremely low level of resistance to the passage of electrical current (predecessor to ]) | |||
* ] multiplication ]ry | |||
* Devices for high ] discharges | |||
* Devices for ] protection | |||
* ] aircraft | |||
* ] | |||
* Concepts for ] | |||
* ]s | |||
|- | |||
|} | |||
] priest in the village of Smiljan.|left]] | |||
== Middle years == | |||
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, '']''. The initial financial ]s disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in ] as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial ]less alternating current ], which he demonstrated to the ''American Institute of Electrical Engineers'' (now ]) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his ] and began working with ] at ]'s ] labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over large distances. | |||
] | |||
In April of 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called ]s using his own single node ]s (similar to his patent #514170). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that they had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is '']'' (or ''braking radiation''). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of ] and ]. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high ] near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X-rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used ]s. By 1892, Tesla became aware of what ] later identified as effects of X-rays. | |||
Tesla later wrote that he became interested in demonstrations of electricity by his physics professor.{{efn|Tesla does not mention which professor this was by name, but some sources conclude this was ].{{sfn|Seifer|1998|loc=CHILDHOOD 1856-74}}{{sfn|Petešić|1976|pp=29–30}}}} Tesla noted that these demonstrations of this "mysterious phenomena" made him want "to know more of this wonderful force".{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=32}} Tesla was able to perform ] in his head, which prompted his teachers to believe that he was cheating.<ref>{{cite web|title=Tesla Life and Legacy – Tesla's Early Years|url=https://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/ll_early.html|publisher=PBS|access-date=8 July 2012|archive-date=20 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180720022706/http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/ll_early.html|url-status=live}}</ref> He finished a four-year term in three years, graduating in 1873.{{sfn|O'Neill|1944|p=33}} | |||
Tesla commented on the hazards of working with ''single node'' X-ray producing devices, incorrectly attributing the skin damage to ] rather than the radiation: ''"As to the hurtful actions on the skin... I note that they have been misinterpreted... They are not due to the Röntgen rays, but merely to the ozone generated in contact with the skin. ] may also be responsible, but to a small extent".'' (Tesla, in Electrical Review, ] ]). Tesla later observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X-rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Röentgen's discovery (including ]ing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Röentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895. | |||
After graduating Tesla returned to Smiljan but soon contracted ], was bedridden for nine months and was near death multiple times. In a moment of despair, Tesla's father (who had originally wanted him to enter the priesthood),<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Glenn|editor-first=Jim|title=The complete patents of Nikola Tesla|year=1994|publisher=Barnes & Noble Books|location=New York|isbn=1-56619-266-8|url=https://archive.org/details/completepatentso00tesl}}</ref> promised to send him to the best engineering school if he recovered from the illness.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=29}} Tesla later said that he had read ]'s earlier works while recovering from his illness.<ref name="tesla1">{{cite book|last1=Tesla|first1=Nikola|title=My inventions: the autobiography of Nikola Tesla|date=2011 | orig-date = 1919 edition reprint | publisher=Martino Fine Books|location=Eastford|isbn=978-1-61427-084-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Juliana |last=Adelman |title=The electricity between Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/the-electricity-between-mark-twain-and-nikola-tesla-1.2522523 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=11 February 2016}}</ref> | |||
On ], ], he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his ] laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. ]. He lit vacuum tubes wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. <ref>Krumme, Katherine, ''''. ], ] (])</ref> Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended ] editor ], who adapted several Serbian poems of ] (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the ] teachings of the ]. <ref>], "''''".</ref> | |||
] across great distances. It is contained in US390721.]] | |||
The next year Tesla evaded ] into the ] in Smiljan{{sfn|Seifer|2001|p=14}} by running away southeast of Lika to ], near ]. There he explored the mountains wearing hunter's garb. Tesla said that this contact with nature made him stronger, both physically and mentally. He enrolled at the ] in 1875 on a Military Frontier scholarship. Tesla passed nine exams (nearly twice as many as required{{sfn|O'Neill|1944|p=39}}) and received a letter of commendation from the dean of the technical faculty to his father, which stated, "Your son is a star of first rank."{{sfn|O'Neill|1944|p=39}} At Graz, Tesla noted his fascination with the detailed lectures on electricity presented by Professor ] and described how he made suggestions on improving the design of an electric motor the professor was demonstrating.<ref name="tesla1" />{{better source needed|date=January 2022}}{{sfn|Carlson|2013|pp=35}} But by his third year he was failing in school and never graduated, leaving ] in December 1878. One biographer suggests Tesla was not studying and may have been expelled for gambling and womanizing.{{sfn|Seifer|2001|p=17}} | |||
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now part of the ]) from 1892 to 1894. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated ] alternating currents. He generated AC of one million ]s using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the '']'' in ], designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, effectively building the first ]. In ], ], Tesla made a demonstration related to ] communication in 1893. Addressing the ] in ], ] and the ], he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. | |||
] | |||
At the 1893 ], the ] in ], an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and ] introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's ]s and single node bulbs. Tesla also explained the principles of the ''rotating magnetic field'' and '']'' by demonstrating how to make an egg made of ] stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "'']''". | |||
Tesla's family did not hear from him after he left school.{{sfn|Seifer|2001|pp=17–18}} There was a rumor among his classmates that he had drowned in the nearby river ] but in January one of them ran into Tesla in the town of ] and reported that encounter to Tesla's family.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|pp=47}} It turned out Tesla had been working there as a draftsman for 60 florins per month.{{sfn|Seifer|2001|p=17}} In March 1879, Milutin finally located his son and tried to convince him to return home and take up his education in Prague.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|pp=47}} Tesla returned to Gospić later that month when he was deported for not having a residence permit.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|pp=47}} Tesla's father died the next month, on 17 April 1879, at the age of 60 after an unspecified illness.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|pp=47}} During the rest of the year Tesla taught a large class of students in his old school in Gospić. | |||
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part due to Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for ] distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC 's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "]," Edison and Westinghouse were almost ], so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent ]. Also in 1897, Tesla researched ] which led to setting up the basic formulation of ]s. <ref>Waser, André, "''Nikola Tesla’s Radiations and the Cosmic Rays''".</ref> | |||
In January 1880, two of Tesla's uncles put together enough money to help him leave Gospić for ], where he was to study. He arrived too late to enroll at ]; he had never studied ], a required subject; and he was illiterate in ], another required subject. Tesla did, however, attend lectures in philosophy at the university as an auditor but he did not receive grades for the courses.<ref>{{cite book|last=Mrkich|first=D.|title=Nikola Tesla: The European Years|year=2003|publisher=Commoner's Publishing|location=Ottawa|isbn=0-88970-113-X|edition=1st}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=NYHOTEL|url=http://www.teslasociety.com/nyhotel.htm|publisher=Tesla Society of NY|access-date=17 August 2012|archive-date=31 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181231231421/http://www.teslasociety.com/nyhotel.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic ] patent ({{US patent|645576}}). A year later, he demonstrated a ]led boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio controlled ]es. Tesla developed the "''Art of Telautomatics''", a form of ]. <ref>Tesla, Nikola, "''''", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN 0-910077-00-2 (teslaplay.comversion; )</ref> In 1898, a radio-controlled boat was demonstrated to the public during an electrical exhibition at ]. These devices had an innovative ] and a series of ]s. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or ] for ] ] engines. He gained {{US patent|609250}}, "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this ]. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work. | |||
=== Working at Budapest Telephone Exchange === | |||
Tesla moved to ], ], in 1881 to work under ] at a ] company, the Budapest Telephone Exchange. Upon arrival, Tesla realized that the company, then under construction, was not functional, so he worked as a draftsman in the Central Telegraph Office instead. Within a few months, the Budapest Telephone Exchange became functional, and Tesla was allocated the chief electrician position. During his employment, Tesla made many improvements to the Central Station equipment and claimed to have perfected a telephone ] or ], which was never patented nor publicly described.<ref name="tesla1" />{{better source needed|date=January 2022}} | |||
== Working at Edison == | |||
In 1882, Tivadar Puskás got Tesla another job in Paris with the Continental Edison Company.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://topdocumentaryfilms.com/nikola-tesla-the-genius/ |title=Nikola Tesla: The Genius Who Lit the World |publisher=Top Documentary Films |access-date=24 October 2021 |archive-date=26 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190426020752/https://topdocumentaryfilms.com/nikola-tesla-the-genius/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Tesla began working in what was then a brand new industry, installing indoor incandescent lighting citywide in large scale electric power ]. The company had several subdivisions and Tesla worked at the Société Electrique Edison, the division in the ] suburb of Paris in charge of installing the lighting system. There he gained a great deal of practical experience in electrical engineering. Management took notice of his advanced knowledge in engineering and physics and soon had him designing and building improved versions of generating ]s and motors.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|pp=63–64}} They also sent him on to troubleshoot engineering problems at other Edison utilities being built around France and in Germany. | |||
=== Moving to the United States === | |||
]s on Manhattan's lower east side, a "painful surprise".{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=70}}]] | |||
In 1884, Edison manager ], who had been overseeing the Paris installation, was brought back to the United States to manage the ], a manufacturing division situated in New York City, and asked that Tesla be brought to the United States as well.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=69}} In June 1884, Tesla emigrated{{sfn|O'Neill|1944|pp=57–60}} and began working almost immediately at the Machine Works on ]'s ], an overcrowded shop with a workforce of several hundred machinists, laborers, managing staff, and 20 "field engineers" struggling with the task of building the large electric utility in that city.<ref name="edison.rutgers.edu tesla">{{cite web|url=http://edison.rutgers.edu/tesla.htm|title=Edison & Tesla – The Edison Papers|website=edison.rutgers.edu|access-date=23 January 2017|archive-date=11 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190311214910/http://edison.rutgers.edu/tesla.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> As in Paris, Tesla was working on troubleshooting installations and improving generators.<ref>{{cite book |title=American inventors, entrepreneurs & business visionaries |last=Carey |first=Charles W. |year=1989 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=0-8160-4559-3 |page=337 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XKiGgl36bkgC |access-date=27 November 2010 |archive-date=23 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240323123046/https://books.google.com/books?id=XKiGgl36bkgC |url-status=live }}</ref> Historian W. Bernard Carlson notes Tesla may have met company founder ] only a couple of times.<ref name="edison.rutgers.edu tesla" /> One of those times was noted in Tesla's autobiography where, after staying up all night repairing the damaged dynamos on the ocean liner {{SS|Oregon|1883|6}}, he ran into Batchelor and Edison, who made a quip about their "Parisian" being out all night. After Tesla told them he had been up all night fixing the ''Oregon'', Edison commented to Batchelor that "this is a damned good man".{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=70}} One of the projects given to Tesla was to develop an ]-based street lighting system.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|pp=71–73}}<ref name="Notebook"> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190226120239/https://teslauniverse.com/nikola-tesla/books/nikola-tesla-notebook-edison-machine-works-1884-1885 |date=26 February 2019 }} {{ISBN|86-81243-11-X}}, teslauniverse.com</ref> Arc lighting was the most popular type of street lighting but it required high voltages and was incompatible with the Edison low-voltage incandescent system, causing the company to lose contracts in some cities. Tesla's designs were never put into production, possibly because of technical improvements in incandescent street lighting or because of an installation deal that Edison made with an arc lighting company.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|pp=72–73}} | |||
Tesla had been working at the Machine Works for a total of six months when he quit.<ref name="edison.rutgers.edu tesla" /> What event precipitated his leaving is unclear. It may have been over a bonus he did not receive, either for redesigning generators or for the arc lighting system that was shelved.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|pp=71–73}} Tesla had previous run-ins with the Edison company over unpaid bonuses he believed he had earned.{{sfn|Seifer|2001|pp=25, 34}}{{sfn|Carlson|2013|pp=69–73}} In his autobiography, Tesla stated the manager of the Edison Machine Works offered a $50,000 bonus to design "twenty-four different types of standard machines" "but it turned out to be a practical joke".<ref name="Autobiography-1919">{{Cite web|url=http://www.tfcbooks.com/e-books/my_inventions.pdf|title=Nikola Tesla, ''My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla'', originally published: 1919, p. 19|access-date=23 January 2017|archive-date=12 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412052438/http://www.tfcbooks.com/e-books/my_inventions.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=February 2024}} Later versions of this story have Thomas Edison himself offering and then reneging on the deal, quipping "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor".{{sfn|O'Neill|1944|p=64}}<ref>{{harvnb|Pickover|1999|p=14}}</ref> The size of the bonus in either story has been noted as odd since Machine Works manager Batchelor was stingy with pay{{efn|Tesla's contemporaries remembered that on a previous occasion Machine Works manager Batchelor had been unwilling to give Tesla a $7 a week pay raise <ref>Seifer – ''Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla'', p. 38</ref>}} and the company did not have that amount of cash (equal to ${{Inflation|US|50000|1884|fmt=c}} today) on hand.{{sfn|Jonnes|2004|pp=109–110}}{{sfn|Seifer|2001|p=38}} Tesla's diary contains just one comment on what happened at the end of his employment, a note he scrawled across the two pages covering 7 December 1884, to 4 January 1885, saying "Good By to the Edison Machine Works".<ref name="Notebook" />{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=73}} | |||
== Tesla Electric Light and Manufacturing == | |||
Soon after leaving the Edison company, Tesla was working on patenting an arc lighting system,{{sfn|Jonnes|2004|pp=110–111}} possibly the same one he had developed at Edison.<ref name="edison.rutgers.edu tesla" /> In March 1885, he met with patent attorney Lemuel W. Serrell, the same attorney used by Edison, to obtain help with submitting the patents.{{sfn|Jonnes|2004|pp=110–111}} Serrell introduced Tesla to two businessmen, Robert Lane and Benjamin Vail, who agreed to finance an arc lighting manufacturing and utility company in Tesla's name, the ].{{sfn|Seifer|1998|p=41}} Tesla worked for the rest of the year obtaining the patents that included an improved DC generator, the first patents issued to Tesla in the US, and building and installing the system in ], New Jersey.{{sfn|Jonnes|2004|p=111}} Tesla's new system gained notice in the technical press, which commented on its advanced features. | |||
The investors showed little interest in Tesla's ideas for new types of ] motors and electrical transmission equipment. After the utility was up and running in 1886, they decided that the manufacturing side of the business was too competitive and opted to simply run an electric utility.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=75}} They formed a new utility company, abandoning Tesla's company and leaving the inventor penniless.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=75}} Tesla even lost control of the patents he had generated, since he had assigned them to the company in exchange for stock.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=75}} He had to work at various electrical repair jobs and as a ditch digger for $2 per day. Later in life Tesla recounted that part of 1886 as a time of hardship, writing "My high education in various branches of science, mechanics and literature seemed to me like a mockery".{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=75}}{{efn|Account comes from a letter Tesla sent in 1938 on the occasion of receiving an award from the National Institute of Immigrant Welfare<ref>{{cite book | editor-first = John T. | editor-last = Ratzlaff | title = Tesla Said | publisher = Tesla Book Co. | location = Millbrae, California | page = 280 | year = 1984 | isbn = 0-914119-00-1 | url = https://archive.org/details/nikolateslajohnt.ratzlaffteslasaid }}</ref>}} | |||
== AC and the induction motor == | |||
] | |||
In late 1886, Tesla met Alfred S. Brown, a ] superintendent, and New York attorney Charles Fletcher Peck.<ref>Charles Fletcher Peck of ] per {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201008142341/https://patents.google.com/patent/US381968A/en|date=8 October 2020}}</ref> The two men were experienced in setting up companies and promoting inventions and patents for financial gain.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=80}} Based on Tesla's new ideas for electrical equipment, including a ] idea,{{sfn|Carlson|2013|pp=76–78}} they agreed to back the inventor financially and handle his patents. Together they formed the Tesla Electric Company in April 1887, with an agreement that profits from generated patents would go {{frac|1|3}} to Tesla, {{frac|1|3}} to Peck and Brown, and {{frac|1|3}} to fund development.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=80}} They set up a laboratory for Tesla at 89 Liberty Street in Manhattan, where he worked on improving and developing new types of electric motors, generators, and other devices. | |||
In 1887, Tesla developed an ] that ran on ] (AC), a power system format that was rapidly expanding in Europe and the United States because of its advantages in long-distance, ] transmission. The motor used ] current, which generated a ] to turn the motor (a principle that Tesla claimed to have conceived in 1882).<ref name="ReferenceB">{{cite book |title=Networks of Power: Electrification in Western Society, 1880–1930 |publisher=JHU Press |page=117 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g07Q9M4agp4C&pg=PA117 |isbn=978-0-8018-4614-4 |date=March 1993 |access-date=13 December 2015 |archive-date=23 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240323123125/https://books.google.com/books?id=g07Q9M4agp4C&pg=PA117#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Thomas Parke Hughes, ''Networks of Power: Electrification in Western Society, 1880–1930'', pp. 115–118</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1AsFdUxOwu8C&pg=PA204 |title=Robert Bud, Instruments of Science: An Historical Encyclopedia |page=204 |access-date=18 March 2013 |isbn=978-0-8153-1561-2 |last1=Ltd |first1=Nmsi Trading |last2=Institution |first2=Smithsonian |year=1998 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |archive-date=23 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240323123051/https://books.google.com/books?id=1AsFdUxOwu8C&pg=PA204#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> This innovative electric motor, patented in May 1888, was a simple self-starting design that did not need a ], thus avoiding sparking and the high maintenance of constantly servicing and replacing mechanical brushes.{{sfn|Jonnes|2004|p=161}}<ref>Henry G. Prout, ''A Life of George Westinghouse'', p. 129</ref> | |||
Along with getting the motor patented, Peck and Brown arranged to get the motor publicized, starting with independent testing to verify it was a functional improvement, followed by press releases sent to technical publications for articles to run concurrently with the issue of the patent.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=105-106}} Physicist ] (who tested the motor) and ''Electrical World'' magazine editor ] arranged for Tesla to demonstrate his AC motor on 16 May 1888 at the ].{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=105-106}}<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8j5bJ5OkGpgC&pg=PA36 |first1=Fritz E. |last1=Froehlich |first2=Allen |last2=Kent |author-link2=Allen Kent |title=The Froehlich/Kent Encyclopedia of Telecommunications: Volume 17 |page=36 |access-date=10 September 2012 |isbn=978-0-8247-2915-8 |date=December 1998 |publisher=CRC Press |archive-date=23 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240323123231/https://books.google.com/books?id=8j5bJ5OkGpgC&pg=PA36#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> Engineers working for the ] reported to ] that Tesla had a viable AC motor and related power system—something Westinghouse needed for the alternating current system he was already marketing. Westinghouse looked into getting a patent on a similar commutator-less, rotating magnetic field-based induction motor developed in 1885 and presented in a paper in March 1888 by Italian physicist ], but decided that Tesla's patent would probably control the market.{{sfn|Jonnes|2004|p=160–162}}{{sfn|Carlson|2013|pp=108–111}} | |||
]) in an 1888 {{US patent|390721}}]] | |||
In July 1888, Brown and Peck negotiated a licensing deal with George Westinghouse for Tesla's polyphase induction motor and transformer designs for $60,000 in cash and stock and a royalty of $2.50 per AC horsepower produced by each motor. Westinghouse also hired Tesla for one year for the large fee of $2,000 (${{Inflation|US|2000|1888|r=-2|fmt=c}} in today's dollars{{Inflation-fn|US}}) per month to be a consultant at the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's ] labs.{{sfn|Klooster|2009|p=305}} | |||
During that year, Tesla worked in Pittsburgh, helping to create an alternating current system to power the city's streetcars. He found it a frustrating period because of conflicts with the other Westinghouse engineers over how best to implement AC power. Between them, they settled on a 60-cycle AC system that Tesla proposed (to match the working frequency of Tesla's motor), but they soon found that it would not work for streetcars, since Tesla's induction motor could run only at a constant speed. They ended up using a DC ] instead.<ref>{{cite web|last=Harris|first=William|url=https://science.howstuffworks.com/nikola-tesla.htm#pt2|title=William Harris, How did Nikola Tesla change the way we use energy?|page=3|publisher=Science.howstuffworks.com|date=14 July 2008|access-date=10 September 2012|archive-date=22 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190522131016/https://science.howstuffworks.com/nikola-tesla2.htm#pt2|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Munson>{{cite book|title=From Edison to Enron: The Business of Power and What It Means for the Future of Electricity|publisher=Praeger|last=Munson |first=Richard|year=2005|pages=|location=Westport, CT|isbn=978-0-275-98740-4|url=https://archive.org/details/fromedisontoenro00muns_0/page/24}}</ref> | |||
=== Market turmoil === | |||
Tesla's demonstration of his induction motor and Westinghouse's subsequent licensing of the patent, both in 1888, came at the time of extreme competition between electric companies.<ref>Quentin R. Skrabec (2007). ''George Westinghouse: Gentle Genius'', Algora Publishing, pp. 119–121</ref><ref>Robert L. Bradley, Jr. (2011). ''Edison to Enron: Energy Markets and Political Strategies'', John Wiley & Sons, pp. 55–58</ref> The three big firms, Westinghouse, Edison, and ], were trying to grow in a capital-intensive business while financially undercutting each other. There was even a "]" propaganda campaign going on, with Edison Electric claiming their ] system was better and safer than the Westinghouse alternating current system and Thomson-Houston sometimes siding with Edison.<ref>Quentin R. Skrabec (2007). ''George Westinghouse: Gentle Genius'', Algora Publishing, pp. 118–120</ref>{{sfn|Seifer|1998|p=47}} Competing in this market meant Westinghouse would not have the cash or engineering resources to develop Tesla's motor and the related polyphase system right away.<ref name="gentlegenius">{{cite book|last1=Skrabec|first1=Quentin R.|title=George Westinghouse : gentle genius|date=2007|publisher=Algora Pub.|location=New York|isbn=978-0-87586-506-5}}</ref> | |||
Two years after signing the Tesla contract, Westinghouse Electric was in trouble. The near collapse of ] in London triggered the ], causing investors to call in their loans to Westinghouse Electric.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=130}} The sudden cash shortage forced the company to refinance its debts. The new lenders demanded that Westinghouse cut back on what looked like excessive spending on acquisition of other companies, research, and patents, including the per motor royalty in the Tesla contract.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=131}}{{sfn|Jonnes|2004|p=29}} At that point, the Tesla induction motor had been unsuccessful and was stuck in development.<ref name="gentlegenius" />{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=130}} Westinghouse was paying a $15,000-a-year guaranteed royalty<ref>Thomas Parke Hughes, ''Networks of Power: Electrification in Western Society, 1880–1930'' (1983), p. 119</ref> even though operating examples of the motor were rare and polyphase power systems needed to run it were even rarer.{{sfn|Jonnes|2004|p=161}}{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=130}} In early 1891, George Westinghouse explained his financial difficulties to Tesla in stark terms, saying that, if he did not meet the demands of his lenders, he would no longer be in control of Westinghouse Electric and Tesla would have to "deal with the bankers" to try to collect future royalties.{{sfn|Jonnes|2004|p=228}} The advantages of having Westinghouse continue to champion the motor probably seemed obvious to Tesla and he agreed to release the company from the royalty payment clause in the contract.{{sfn|Jonnes|2004|p=228}}{{sfn|Carlson|2013|pp=130–131}} Six years later Westinghouse purchased Tesla's patent for a ] payment of $216,000 as part of a patent-sharing agreement signed with ] (a company created from the 1892 merger of Edison and Thomson-Houston).{{sfn|Cheney|2001|pp=48–49}}<ref>Christopher Cooper, ''The Truth About Tesla: The Myth of the Lone Genius in the History of Innovation'', Race Point Publishing. 2015, p. 109</ref><ref>''Electricity, a Popular Electrical Journal'', Volume 13, No. 4, 4 August 1897, Electricity Newspaper Company, pp. 50 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230528024213/https://books.google.com/books?id=nNA9AQAAMAAJ&q=tesla+patent+1897+%22patent+pool%22&pg=PA50 |date=28 May 2023 }}</ref> | |||
== New York laboratories == | |||
] in Tesla's South Fifth Avenue laboratory, 1894]] | |||
The money Tesla made from licensing his AC patents made him independently wealthy and gave him the time and funds to pursue his own interests.<ref>{{cite journal | url = https://teslauniverse.com/nikola-tesla/articles/nikola-tesla-scientific-savant | title = Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant from the Tesla Universe Article Collection | first = James P. |last = Rybak | journal = ] | date = November 1999 | pages = 40–48 & 88 | access-date = 21 January 2017 | archive-date = 26 February 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190226121548/https://teslauniverse.com/nikola-tesla/articles/nikola-tesla-scientific-savant | url-status = live }}</ref> In 1889, Tesla moved out of the Liberty Street shop Peck and Brown had rented and for the next dozen years worked out of a series of workshop/laboratory spaces in ]. These included a lab at 175 ] (1889–1892), the fourth floor of 33–35 South ] (1892–1895), and sixth and seventh floors of 46 & 48 East ] (1895–1902).<ref>Carlson, W. Bernard (2013). ''Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age'', Princeton University Press, p. 218</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://teslaresearch.jimdo.com/labs-in-new-york-1889-1902/|title=Laboratories in New York (1889–1902)|website=Open Tesla Research|access-date=21 January 2017|archive-date=20 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180820234947/https://teslaresearch.jimdo.com/labs-in-new-york-1889-1902/|url-status=live}}</ref> Tesla and his hired staff conducted some of his most significant work in these workshops. | |||
=== Tesla coil === | |||
{{Main|Tesla coil}} | |||
In the summer of 1889, Tesla traveled to the ] in Paris and learned of ]'s 1886–1888 experiments that proved the existence of ], including ]s.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=120}} In repeating and then expanding on these experiments Tesla tried powering a ] with a high speed ] he had been developing as part of an improved ] system but found that the high-frequency current overheated the iron core and melted the insulation between the primary and secondary windings in the coil. To fix this problem Tesla came up with his "oscillating transformer", with an air gap instead of insulating material between the primary and secondary windings and an iron core that could be moved to different positions in or out of the coil.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=122}} Later called the Tesla coil, it would be used to produce high-], low-], high ] ] electricity.<ref name="NMFL">{{cite web |title=Tesla coil |work=Museum of Electricity and Magnetism, Center for Learning |publisher=National High Magnetic Field Laboratory website, Florida State Univ. |date=2011 |url=https://nationalmaglab.org/education/magnet-academy/history-of-electricity-magnetism/museum/tesla-coil-1891 |access-date=12 September 2013 |archive-date=23 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923174243/https://nationalmaglab.org/education/magnet-academy/history-of-electricity-magnetism/museum/tesla-coil-1891 |url-status=live }}</ref> He would use this ] in his later wireless power work.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=124}}<ref name="BurnettOperation">{{cite web | |||
| last = Burnett | |||
| first = Richie | |||
| title = Operation of the Tesla Coil | |||
| work = Richie's Tesla Coil Web Page | |||
| publisher = Richard Burnett private website | |||
| date = 2008 | |||
| url = http://www.richieburnett.co.uk/operation.html#operation | |||
| access-date = 24 July 2015 | |||
| archive-date = 20 July 2015 | |||
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150720104724/http://www.richieburnett.co.uk/operation.html#operation | |||
| url-status = live | |||
}}</ref> | |||
=== Citizenship === | |||
On 30 July 1891, aged 35, Tesla became a ] of the United States.<ref name="NYcourts">{{Cite web |url=https://www.fold3.com/image/20564444?ann=f3dc7880-a283-11dc-2973-11792d3d4a08 |title=Naturalization Record of Nikola Tesla, 30 July 1891 |access-date=24 October 2021 |archive-date=24 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211024010806/https://www.fold3.com/image/20564444?ann=f3dc7880-a283-11dc-2973-11792d3d4a08 |url-status=live }}, Naturalization Index, NYC Courts, referenced in Carlson (2013), ''Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age'', p. H-41</ref>{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=138}} In the same year, he patented his Tesla coil.<ref name="Uth">{{cite web|last=Uth|first=Robert|title=Tesla coil|date=12 December 2000|work=Tesla: Master of Lightning|publisher=PBS.org|url=https://www.pbs.org/tesla/ins/lab_tescoil.html|access-date=20 May 2008|archive-date=5 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190905184548/http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ins/lab_tescoil.html|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
=== Wireless lighting === | |||
] via two long ]s (similar to ]) in his hands]] | |||
After 1890, Tesla experimented with transmitting power by inductive and capacitive coupling using high AC voltages generated with his Tesla coil.<ref name="Tesla1891">{{Cite book |url=http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/1891-05-20.htm |title=Experiments with Alternate Currents of Very High Frequency and Their Application to Methods of Artificial Illumination |first=Nikola |last=Tesla |publication-date=20 May 1891 |access-date=21 January 2017 |archive-date=6 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306023235/http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/1891-05-20.htm |url-status=live }}, lecture delivered before the ], Columbia College, New York. Reprinted as a {{cite book |title = book of the same name by |publisher = Wildside Press |date = 2006 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=94eH3rULPy4C |isbn = 0-8095-0162-7 |access-date = 21 January 2017 |archive-date = 23 March 2024 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240323123047/https://books.google.com/books?id=94eH3rULPy4C |url-status = live }}</ref> He attempted to develop a wireless lighting system based on ] inductive and capacitive coupling and conducted a series of public demonstrations where he lit ]s and even incandescent light bulbs from across a stage.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=132}} He spent most of the decade working on variations of this new form of lighting with the help of various investors but none of the ventures succeeded in making a commercial product out of his findings.<ref>Christopher Cooper (2015). ''The Truth About Tesla: The Myth of the Lone Genius in the History of Innovation'', Race Point Publishing, pp. 143–144</ref> | |||
In 1893 at ], Missouri, the ] in ], Pennsylvania and the ], Tesla told onlookers that he was sure a system like his could eventually conduct "intelligible signals or perhaps even power to any distance without the use of wires" by conducting it through the Earth.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|pp=178–179}}<ref name="Orton">{{cite book |last=Orton |first=John |title=The Story of Semiconductors |year=2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, England |page=53}}</ref> | |||
Tesla served as a vice-president of the ] from 1892 to 1894, the forerunner of the modern-day ] (along with the ]).<ref>{{cite web|title=Tesla's Connection to Columbia University|url=http://www.teslasociety.com/columbia.pdf|publisher=Tesla Memorial Society of NY|access-date=5 July 2012|first1=Kenneth L.|last1=Corum|first2=James F.|last2=Corum|name-list-style=amp|archive-date=18 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171118002803/http://www.teslasociety.com/columbia.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
=== {{anchor|The "Tesla Polyphase System"}}Polyphase system and the Columbian Exposition === | |||
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] | |||
By the beginning of 1893, Westinghouse engineer ] and then ] had made progress on an efficient version of Tesla's induction motor. Lamme found a way to make the ] it would need compatible with older single-phase AC and DC systems by developing a ].{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=166}} Westinghouse Electric now had a way to provide electricity to all potential customers and started branding their polyphase AC system as the "Tesla Polyphase System". They believed that Tesla's patents gave them ] over other polyphase AC systems.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=167}} | |||
Westinghouse Electric asked Tesla to participate in the 1893 ] in Chicago where the company had a large space in the "Electricity Building" devoted to electrical exhibits. Westinghouse Electric won the bid to light the Exposition with alternating current and it was a key event in the history of AC power, as the company demonstrated to the American public the safety, reliability, and efficiency of an alternating current system that was polyphase and could also supply the other AC and DC exhibits at the fair.<ref>{{cite book |first=Richard |last=Moran |title=Executioner's Current: Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and the Invention of the Electric Chair |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |date=2007 |page=222}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-ErxIGp3QN0C |title=America at the Fair: Chicago's 1893 World's Columbian Exposition |first=Chaim M. |last=Rosenberg |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |date=20 February 2008 |isbn=978-0-7385-2521-1 |access-date=3 November 2021 |archive-date=23 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240323123130/https://books.google.com/books?id=-ErxIGp3QN0C |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F6cWRxU9go4C&pg=PR21|title=The World's Columbian Exposition: A Centennial Bibliographic Guide|first1=David J.|last1=Bertuca|first2=Donald K.|last2=Hartman|first3=Susan M.|last3=Neumeister|year=1996|name-list-style=amp|pages=xxi|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic|isbn=978-0-313-26644-7|access-date=10 September 2012|archive-date=23 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240323123640/https://books.google.com/books?id=F6cWRxU9go4C&pg=PR21|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
A special exhibit space was set up to display various forms and models of Tesla's induction motor. The rotating magnetic field that drove them was explained through a series of demonstrations including an '']'' that used the two-phase coil found in an induction motor to spin a copper egg making it stand on end.<ref>Hugo Gernsback, "Tesla's Egg of Columbus, How Tesla Performed the Feat of Columbus Without Cracking the Egg" Electrical Experimenter, 19 March 1919, p. 774 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200327222415/http://www.teslacollection.com/tesla_articles/1919/electrical_experimenter/h_gernsback/the_tesla_egg_of_columbus|date=27 March 2020}}</ref> | |||
Tesla visited the fair for a week during its six-month run to attend the ] and put on a series of demonstrations at the Westinghouse exhibit.{{sfn|Seifer|2001|p=120}}<ref>Thomas Commerford Martin, The Inventions, Researches and Writings of Nikola Tesla: With Special Reference to His Work in Polyphase Currents and High Potential Lighting, Electrical Engineer – 1894, Chapter XLII, page 485 </ref> A specially darkened room had been set up where Tesla showed his wireless lighting system, using a demonstration he had previously performed throughout America and Europe;{{sfn|Cheney|2001|p=76}} these included using high-voltage, high-frequency alternating current to light wireless ]s.{{sfn|Cheney|2001|p=79}} | |||
An observer noted: | |||
{{blockquote|Within the room were suspended two hard-rubber plates covered with tin foil. These were about fifteen feet apart and served as terminals of the wires leading from the transformers. When the current was turned on, the lamps or tubes, which had no wires connected to them, but lay on a table between the suspended plates, or which might be held in the hand in almost any part of the room, were made luminous. These were the same experiments and the same apparatus shown by Tesla in London about two years previous, "where they produced so much wonder and astonishment".<ref>{{cite book |title=Electricity at the Columbian Exposition; Including an Account of the Exhibits in the Electricity Building, the Power Plant in Machinery Hall |publisher=R. R. Donnelley |last=Barrett |first=John Patrick |year=1894 |pages=–269 |url=https://archive.org/details/electricityatco00barrgoog |access-date=29 November 2010}}</ref>}} | |||
=== Steam-powered oscillating generator === | |||
{{Main|Tesla's oscillator}} | |||
During his presentation at the International Electrical Congress in the Columbian Exposition Agriculture Hall, Tesla introduced his ] that he patented that year, something he thought was a better way to generate alternating current.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=182}} Steam was forced into the oscillator and rushed out through a series of ports, pushing a piston up and down that was attached to an armature. The magnetic armature vibrated up and down at high speed, producing an alternating ]. This ] alternating electric current in the wire coils located adjacent. It did away with the complicated parts of a steam engine/generator, but never caught on as a feasible engineering solution to generate electricity.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|pp=181–185}}<ref>Reciprocating Engine, {{US patent|514169}}, 6 February 1894.</ref> | |||
=== Consulting on Niagara === | |||
In 1893, ], who headed the ] ], sought Tesla's opinion on what system would be best to transmit power generated at the falls. Over several years, there had been a series of proposals and open competitions on how best to do it. Among the systems proposed by several US and European companies were two-phase and three-phase AC, high-voltage DC, and compressed air. Adams asked Tesla for information about the current state of all the competing systems. Tesla advised Adams that a two-phased system would be the most reliable and that there was a Westinghouse system to light incandescent bulbs using two-phase alternating current. The company awarded a contract to Westinghouse Electric for building a two-phase AC generating system at the Niagara Falls, based on Tesla's advice and Westinghouse's demonstration at the Columbian Exposition. At the same time, a further contract was awarded to General Electric to build the AC distribution system.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|pp=167–173}} | |||
=== The Nikola Tesla Company === | |||
In 1895, Edward Dean Adams, impressed with what he saw when he toured Tesla's lab, agreed to help found the Nikola Tesla Company, set up to fund, develop, and market a variety of previous Tesla patents and inventions as well as new ones. Alfred Brown signed on, bringing along patents developed under Peck and Brown. The board was filled out with William Birch Rankine and Charles F. Coaney.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|pp=205–206}} It found few investors since the mid-1890s were a tough time financially, and the wireless lighting and oscillators patents it was set up to market never panned out. The company handled Tesla's patents for decades to come. | |||
=== Lab fire === | |||
In the early morning hours of 13 March 1895, the South Fifth Avenue building that housed Tesla's lab caught fire. It started in the basement of the building and was so intense Tesla's 4th-floor lab burned and collapsed into the second floor. The fire not only set back Tesla's ongoing projects, but it also destroyed a collection of early notes and research material, models, and demonstration pieces, including many that had been exhibited at the 1893 Worlds Colombian Exposition. Tesla told '']'' "I am in too much grief to talk. What can I say?".<ref>Mr. Tesla's Great Loss, All of the Electrician’s Valuable Instruments Burned, WORK OF HALF A LIFETIME GONE, New York Times, 14 March 1895 (archived at {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220628160738/https://teslauniverse.com/nikola-tesla/articles/mr-teslas-great-loss |date=28 June 2022 }})</ref> After the fire Tesla moved to 46 & 48 East Houston Street and rebuilt his lab on the 6th and 7th floors. | |||
=== X-ray experimentation === | |||
] | |||
Starting in 1894, Tesla began investigating what he referred to as ] of "invisible" kinds after he had noticed damaged film in his laboratory in previous experiments<ref>{{cite book|last1=Tesla|first1=Nikola|title=X-ray vision: Nikola Tesla on Roentgen rays|date=2007|publisher=Wiilder Publications|location=Radford, VA|isbn=978-1-934451-92-2|edition=1st}}</ref> (later identified as "Roentgen rays" or "]"). His early experiments were with ]s, a ] electrical discharge tube. Tesla may have inadvertently captured an X-ray image—predating, by a few weeks, ]'s December 1895 announcement of the discovery of X-rays—when he tried to photograph Mark Twain illuminated by a ], an earlier type of gas discharge tube. The only thing captured in the image was the metal locking screw on the camera lens.{{sfn|Cheney|2001|p=134}} | |||
In March 1896, after hearing of Röntgen's discovery of X-ray and X-ray imaging (]),<ref>RADIOGRAPHY – EXPERIMENTS MADE BY NIKOLA TESLA – Shoulder of a Man Taken Through His Clothing—Chalky Deposits Infallibly Detected, The Constitution, Atlanta, Georgia, Friday 13, March 1896, p. 9 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004213023/http://anengineersaspect.blogspot.com/2011/07/nikola-tesla-radiography-experiments.html |date=4 October 2013 }}</ref> Tesla proceeded to do his own experiments in X-ray imaging, developing a high-energy single-terminal ] of his own design that had no target electrode and that worked from the output of the Tesla coil (the modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is '']'' or ''braking radiation''). In his research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X-rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will ... enable one to generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus".<ref>{{cite book |first=Nikola |last=Tesla |url=http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/1898-11-17.htm |chapter=High Frequency Oscillators for Electro-Therapeutic and Other Purposes |title=Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association |publisher=American Electro-Therapeutic Association |page=25 |date=17 November 1898 |access-date=27 January 2009 |archive-date=1 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101011808/http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/1898-11-17.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
Tesla noted the hazards of working with his circuit and single-node X-ray-producing devices. In his many notes on the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but by the ] generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, by ]. Tesla incorrectly believed that X-rays were longitudinal waves, such as those produced in ]. These plasma waves can occur in ]s.<ref>Griffiths, David J. ''Introduction to Electrodynamics'', {{ISBN|0-13-805326-X}} and Jackson, John D. ''Classical Electrodynamics'', {{ISBN|0-471-30932-X}}.</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Transactions of the American Electro-therapeutic Association |publisher=American Electrotherapeutic Association |year=1899 |page=16 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bUo7vYNkbKQC |access-date=25 November 2010 |archive-date=23 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240323123806/https://books.google.com/books?id=bUo7vYNkbKQC |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
On 11 July 1934, the '']'' published an article on Tesla, in which he recalled an event that occasionally took place while experimenting with his single-electrode vacuum tubes. A minute particle would break off the cathode, pass out of the tube, and physically strike him:<ref name=Anderson>{{cite book |last=Anderson |first=Leland |title=Nikola Tesla's teleforce & telegeodynamics proposals |year=1998 |publisher=21st Century Books |location=Breckenridge, Colo. |isbn=0-9636012-8-8}}</ref> | |||
<blockquote> | |||
Tesla said he could feel a sharp stinging pain where it entered his body, and again at the place where it passed out. In comparing these particles with the bits of metal projected by his "electric gun", Tesla said, "The particles in the beam of force ... will travel much faster than such particles ... and they will travel in concentrations". | |||
</blockquote> | |||
=== Radio remote control === | |||
] | |||
In 1898, Tesla demonstrated a boat that used a ]-based ]—which he dubbed "telautomaton"—to the public during an electrical exhibition at ].{{sfn|Jonnes|2004}} Tesla tried to sell his idea to the US military as a type of radio-controlled ], but they showed little interest.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6aStP3Du5cgC&pg=PT50 |first=P. W. |last=Singer |title=Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the Twenty-first Century |date=2009 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-1-4406-8597-2 |via=Google Books |access-date=10 September 2012 |archive-date=23 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240323123553/https://books.google.com/books?id=6aStP3Du5cgC&pg=PT50#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> Remote ] remained a novelty until World War I and afterward, when a number of countries used it in ].<ref>Fitzsimons, Bernard, ed. "Fritz-X", in ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons and Warfare'' (London: Phoebus, 1978), Volume 10, p.1037.</ref> Tesla took the opportunity to further demonstrate "Teleautomatics" in an address to a meeting of the Commercial Club in Chicago, while he was traveling to ], on 13 May 1899. | |||
== Wireless power == | |||
{{Further|Wireless power transfer#Tesla}} | |||
] | |||
From the 1890s through 1906, Tesla spent a great deal of his time and fortune on a series of projects trying to develop ]. It was an expansion of his idea of using coils to transmit power that he had been demonstrating in wireless lighting. He saw this as not only a way to transmit large amounts of power around the world but also, as he had pointed out in his earlier lectures, a way to transmit worldwide communications. | |||
At the time Tesla was formulating his ideas, there was no feasible way to wirelessly transmit communication signals over long distances, let alone large amounts of power. Tesla had studied radio waves early on, and came to the conclusion that part of the existing study on them, by Hertz, was incorrect.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=127}}<ref name="earlyradiohistory.us">{{cite web|url=https://earlyradiohistory.us/tesla.htm|title=Nikola Tesla: The Guy Who DIDN'T "Invent Radio" | first = Thomas H. | last = White | date = 1 November 2012 |website=earlyradiohistory.us|access-date=20 February 2018|archive-date=15 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191115150200/http://earlyradiohistory.us/tesla.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>{{efn|Tesla's own experiments led him to erroneously believe Hertz had misidentified a form of conduction instead of a new form of electromagnetic radiation, an incorrect assumption that Tesla held for a couple of decades.<ref name="earlyradiohistory.us"/>{{sfn|Carlson|2013|pp=127–128}}}} Also, this new form of radiation was widely considered at the time to be a short-distance phenomenon that seemed to die out in less than a mile.<ref>Brian Regal, Radio: The Life Story of a Technology, p. 22</ref> Tesla noted that, even if theories on radio waves were true, they were totally worthless for his intended purposes since this form of "invisible light" would diminish over a distance just like any other radiation and would travel in straight lines right out into space, becoming "hopelessly lost".{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=209}} | |||
By the mid-1890s, Tesla was working on the idea that he might be able to conduct electricity long distance through the Earth or the atmosphere, and began working on experiments to test this idea including setting up a large resonance transformer ] in his East Houston Street lab.<ref name="My Inventions"><u>My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla</u>, Hart Brothers, 1982, Ch. 5, {{ISBN|0-910077-00-2}}, originally appeared in '']'' magazine in 1919</ref><ref>"Tesla on Electricity Without Wires," <u>Electrical Engineer</u> – N.Y., 8 January 1896, p. 52. (Refers to letter by Tesla in the ''New York Herald'', 31 December 1895.)</ref><ref>''Mining & Scientific Press'', "Electrical Progress" Nikola Tesla Is Credited With Statement", 11 April 1896</ref> Seeming to borrow from a common idea at the time that the Earth's atmosphere was conductive,{{sfn|Seifer|2001|p=107}}{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=45}} he proposed a system composed of balloons suspending, transmitting, and receiving, electrodes in the air above {{convert|30,000|feet}} in altitude, where he thought the lower pressure would allow him to send high voltages (millions of volts) long distances. | |||
=== Colorado Springs === | === Colorado Springs === | ||
{{See also|Tesla Experimental Station|Magnifying transmitter|Colorado Springs Notes, 1899–1900}} | |||
{{main|Magnifying Transmitter}} | |||
] | |||
]" generating millions of volts of electricity. The arcs are about 7 meters (22 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a ].)]] | |||
To further study the conductive nature of low-pressure air, Tesla set up an ] at high altitude in Colorado Springs during 1899.{{sfn|Cheney|Uth|Glenn|1999|p=92}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/ll_colspr.html|title=PBS: Tesla – Master of Lightning: Colorado Springs|website=]|access-date=6 September 2017|archive-date=7 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170707120257/http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/ll_colspr.html|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=264}}<ref name="Wireless Telegraphy 2002, p. 109">''Nikola Tesla On His Work With Alternating Currents and Their Application to Wireless Telegraphy, Telephony, and Transmission of Power'', Leland I. Anderson, 21st Century Books, 2002, p. 109, {{ISBN|1-893817-01-6}}.</ref> <!--primarily because of the frequent thunderstorms, the high altitude (where the air, being at a lower pressure, had a lower dielectric breakdown strength, making it easier to ionize), and the dryness of the air (minimizing leakage of electric charge through insulators).--> There he could safely operate much larger coils than in the cramped confines of his New York lab, and an associate had made an arrangement for the El Paso Electric Light Company to supply alternating current free of charge.<ref name="Wireless Telegraphy 2002, p. 109" /> To fund his experiments, he convinced ] to invest $100,000 (${{Inflation|US|100000|1899|r=-2|fmt=c}} in today's dollars{{Inflation-fn|US}}) to become a majority shareholder in the Nikola Tesla Company. Astor thought he was primarily investing in the new wireless lighting system. Instead, Tesla used the money to fund his Colorado Springs experiments.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|pp=255–259}} Upon his arrival, he told reporters that he planned to conduct ] experiments, transmitting signals from ] to Paris.{{sfn|Cheney|2001|p=173}} | |||
] picture of Tesla sitting next to his "]" generating millions of volts. The {{convert|7|m|adj=on}} long arcs were not part of the normal operation, but only produced for effect by rapidly cycling the power switch.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|pp=290–301}}]] | |||
There, he conducted experiments with a large coil operating in the megavolts range, producing artificial lightning (and thunder) consisting of millions of volts and discharges of up to {{convert|135|ft|m|0}} in length,<ref>Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "''Dictionary of Scientific Biography'';" ''Tesla, Nikola''. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.</ref> and, at one point, inadvertently burned out the generator in El Paso, causing a power outage.<ref>{{cite journal |last=SECOR |first=H. WINFIELD |title=TESLA'S VIEWS ON ELECTRICITY AND THE WAR |journal=The Electrical Experimenter |date=August 1917 |url=http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/1917-08-00.htm |access-date=9 September 2012 |archive-date=10 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110210071635/http://tfcbooks.com/tesla/1917-08-00.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The observations he made of the electronic noise of lightning strikes led him to (incorrectly) conclude{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=301}}{{sfn|Cooper|2015|p=165}} that he could use the entire globe of the Earth to conduct electrical energy. | |||
During his time at his laboratory, Tesla observed unusual signals from his receiver which he speculated to be communications from another planet. He mentioned them in a letter to a reporter in December 1899<ref>Daniel Blair Stewart (1999). ''Tesla: The Modern Sorcerer'', Frog Book. p. 372</ref> and to the ] in December 1900.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=315}}{{sfn|Seifer|1998|pp=220–223}} Reporters treated it as a sensational story and jumped to the conclusion Tesla was hearing signals from ].{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=315}} He expanded on the signals he heard in a 9 February 1901 ''Collier's Weekly'' article entitled "Talking With Planets", where he said it had not been immediately apparent to him that he was hearing "intelligently controlled signals" and that the signals could have come from Mars, ], or other planets.{{sfn|Seifer|1998|pp=220–223}} It has been hypothesized that he may have intercepted ]'s European experiments in July 1899—Marconi may have transmitted the letter S (dot/dot/dot) in a naval demonstration, the same three impulses that Tesla hinted at hearing in Colorado{{sfn|Seifer|1998|pp=220–223}}—or signals from another experimenter in wireless transmission.<ref name="seifer2006">{{cite web |last=Seifer |first=Marc |title=Nikola Tesla: The Lost Wizard |url=http://teslatech.info/ttmagazine/v4n1/seifer.htm |publisher=ExtraOrdinary Technology (Volume 4, Issue 1; Jan/Feb/March 2006) |access-date=14 July 2012 |archive-date=25 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925090553/http://teslatech.info/ttmagazine/v4n1/seifer.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=July 2014}} | |||
Tesla had an agreement with the editor of '']'' to produce an article on his findings. The magazine sent a photographer to Colorado to photograph the work being done there. The article, titled "The Problem of Increasing Human Energy", appeared in the June 1900 edition of the magazine. He explained the superiority of the wireless system he envisioned but the article was more of a lengthy philosophical treatise than an understandable scientific description of his work,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.teslamemorialsociety.org/info/Research%20of%20Nikola%20Tesla%20in%20Long%20Island%20Laboratory.htm|title=Research of Nikola Tesla in Long Island Laboratory|access-date=26 January 2017|archive-date=6 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506115345/http://www.teslamemorialsociety.org/info/Research%20of%20Nikola%20Tesla%20in%20Long%20Island%20Laboratory.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> illustrated with what were to become iconic images of Tesla and his Colorado Springs experiments. | |||
=== Wardenclyffe === | |||
{{Main|Wardenclyffe Tower}} | |||
] | |||
Tesla made the rounds in New York trying to find investors for what he thought would be a viable system of wireless transmission, wining and dining them at the ]'s Palm Garden (the hotel where he was living at the time), ], and ].<ref name="teslascience.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.teslascience.org/pages/dream.htm|title=Tesla Wardenclyffe Project Update – An Introduction to the Issues|website=www.teslascience.org|date=22 June 2023|access-date=26 January 2017|archive-date=21 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170121115706/http://www.teslascience.org/pages/dream.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> In March 1901, he obtained $150,000 (${{Inflation|US|150000|1900|r=-2|fmt=c}} in today's dollars{{Inflation-fn|US}}) from ] in return for a 51% share of any generated wireless patents, and began planning the ] facility to be built in ], {{convert|100|mi|km|0}} east of the city on the North Shore of Long Island.<ref name="broad1">{{cite news |last=Broad |first=William J |title=A Battle to Preserve a Visionary's Bold Failure |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/05/science/05tesla.html |access-date=20 May 2013 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=4 May 2009 |archive-date=25 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725111710/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/05/science/05tesla.html |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
By July 1901, Tesla had expanded his plans to build a more powerful transmitter to leap ahead of ]'s radio-based system, which Tesla thought was a copy of his own.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=315}} He approached Morgan to ask for more money to build the larger system, but Morgan refused to supply any further funds.<ref name="seifer2006"/>{{unreliable source?|date=July 2014}} In December 1901, Marconi successfully transmitted the letter S from England to ], defeating Tesla in the race to be first to complete such a transmission. A month after Marconi's success, Tesla tried to get Morgan to back an even larger plan to transmit messages and power by controlling "vibrations throughout the globe".{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=315}} Over the next five years, Tesla wrote more than 50 letters to Morgan, pleading for and demanding additional funding to complete the construction of Wardenclyffe. Tesla continued the project for another nine months into 1902. The tower was erected to its full height of {{convert|187|ft|m|0}}.<ref name="seifer2006" />{{unreliable source?|date=July 2014}} In June 1902, Tesla moved his lab operations from Houston Street to Wardenclyffe.<ref name="broad1" /> | |||
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in ], where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting ] experiments transmitting signals from ] to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ] and the ground's ]s via ]s and ]s. <ref>Tesla, Nikola, "''''". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ()</ref> At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a ], and he produced artificial ] (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). <ref>Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "''Dictionary of Scientific Biography''"; ''Tesla, Nikola''. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN 0-684-12925-6</ref>. Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., ] ] ] ]s, ] ], crude ] effects, and ]). <ref>Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "''Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors''". 1994.</ref> Tesla stated that he observed ]s during this time. <ref>Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "''Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves''". 1994.</ref> In the Colorado Springs lab, he "recorded" signals of what he believed were ] radio signals, though these announcements and his data were rejected by the scientific community. He noted measurements of repetitive signals from his receiver which are substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla spent the latter part of his life trying to signal Mars. In 1996 Corum and Corum published an analysis of ] ] signals which indicate that there was a correspondence between the setting of Mars at Colorado Springs, and the cessation of signals from Jupiter in the summer of 1899 when Tesla was there. <ref>Tesla, Nikola, "''''". Collier's Weekly, February 19, 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)</ref><ref>Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "''''".</ref> | |||
Investors on ] were putting their money into Marconi's system, and some in the press began turning against Tesla's project, claiming it was a hoax.<ref>Malanowski, Gregory, <u>The Race for Wireless</u>, AuthorHouse, p. 35</ref> The project came to a halt in 1905, and in 1906, the financial problems and other events may have led to what Tesla biographer ] suspects was a nervous breakdown on Tesla's part.<ref>{{cite book|first=David Hatcher|last= Childress|date=1993|isbn=978-0-932813-19-0|title= The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla|page= 255|publisher= Adventures Unlimited}}</ref> Tesla mortgaged the Wardenclyffe property to cover his debts at the Waldorf-Astoria, which eventually amounted to $20,000 (${{Inflation|US|20000|1914|r=-2|fmt=c}} in today's dollars{{Inflation-fn|US}}).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KRg9HWakBmQC&q=tesla+1908+Wardenclyffe+foreclosed&pg=PA185|title=Nikola Tesla on His Work with Alternating Currents and Their Application to Wireless Telegraphy, Telephony, and Transmission of Power: An Extended Interview|first=Nikola|last=Tesla|date=8 December 2017|publisher=21st Century Books|via=Google Books|isbn=978-1-893817-01-2|access-date=18 November 2020|archive-date=23 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240323123554/https://books.google.com/books?id=KRg9HWakBmQC&q=tesla+1908+Wardenclyffe+foreclosed&pg=PA185#v=snippet&q=tesla%201908%20Wardenclyffe%20foreclosed&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> He lost the property in foreclosure in 1915, and in 1917 the Tower was demolished by the new owner to make the land a more viable real estate asset. | |||
Tesla left ] on ], ]. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a ] facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted {{US patent|685012}} for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The ] classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus"). | |||
== Later years == | == Later years == | ||
] located in ], ], ].]] | |||
After Wardenclyffe closed, Tesla continued to write to Morgan; after "the great man" died, Tesla wrote to Morgan's son Jack, trying to get further funding for the project. In 1906, Tesla opened offices at 165 Broadway in Manhattan, trying to raise further funds by developing and marketing his patents. He went on to have offices at the ] from 1910 to 1914; rented for a few months at the ], moving out because he could not afford the rent; and then to office space at 8 West 40th Street from 1915 to 1925. After moving to 8 West 40th Street, he was effectively bankrupt. Most of his patents had run out and he was having trouble with the new inventions he was trying to develop.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|pp=373–375}} | |||
In 1900, with $150,000 (51% from ]), Tesla began planning the '']'' facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during wartime. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly." In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded ] the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 ] (150 kW) 16,000 rpm ]. During 1910–1911 at the ''Waterside Power Station'' in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100–5000 hp. | |||
=== Bladeless turbine === | |||
Since the ] was awarded to ] for radio in 1909, ] and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the ] in a press dispatch, leading to one of several ]. Some sources have claimed <ref> O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp228-229</ref> that due to their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). <ref>Seifer, "Wizard" pp378-380</ref> Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the ]. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers. | |||
{{Main|Tesla turbine}} | |||
] | |||
On his 50th birthday, in 1906, Tesla demonstrated a {{convert|200|hp|kW|abbr=off}} 16,000 rpm ]. During 1910–1911, at the ] in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100–5,000 hp.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=371}} Tesla worked with several companies including from 1919 to 1922 in ], for ].{{sfn|Seifer|2001|p=398}}{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=373}} He spent most of his time trying to perfect the Tesla turbine with Hans Dahlstrand, the head engineer at the company, but engineering difficulties meant it was never made into a practical device.{{sfn|O'Neill|1944}}{{page needed|date=May 2024}} Tesla did license the idea to a precision instrument company and it found use in the form of luxury car ]s and other instruments.{{sfn|Cheney|Uth|Glenn|1999|p=115}} | |||
] | |||
=== Wireless lawsuits === | |||
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against the claims of Marconi. Around 1916, Tesla filed for bankruptcy because he owed so much in back taxes. He was living in poverty. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the ] Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the ], because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies. | |||
When ] broke out, the British cut the transatlantic telegraph cable linking the US to ] in order to control the flow of information between the two countries. They also tried to shut off German wireless communication to and from the US by having the US Marconi Company sue the German radio company ] for patent infringement.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=377}} Telefunken brought in the physicists ] and ] for their defense, and hired Tesla as a witness for two years for $1,000 a month. The case stalled and then went moot when the US entered the war against Germany in 1917.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=377}}{{sfn|Seifer|2001|p=373}} | |||
Prior to ], Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his European patents. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (], ]). Tesla believed that the ] was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of ] in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded, cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial ], and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation. | |||
In 1915, Tesla attempted to sue the ] for infringement of his wireless tuning patents. Marconi's initial radio patent had been awarded in the US in 1897, but his 1900 patent submission covering improvements to radio transmission had been rejected several times, before it was finally approved in 1904, on the grounds that it infringed on other existing patents including two 1897 Tesla wireless power tuning patents.<ref name="earlyradiohistory.us" /><ref>Howard B. Rockman, Intellectual Property Law for Engineers and Scientists, John Wiley & Sons – 2004, p. 198.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/320/1/|title=Marconi Wireless Tel. Co. v. United States, 320 U.S. 1 (1943)|website=Justia Law|access-date=29 January 2017|archive-date=25 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170625130248/https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/320/1/|url-status=live}}</ref> Tesla's 1915 case went nowhere,{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=377-378}} but in a related case, where the Marconi Company tried to sue the US government over WWI patent infringements, a ] 1943 decision restored the prior patents of ], ], and Tesla.<ref name="LQsxMxEUC page 3">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c92LQsxMxEUC&q=British+Court+tesla+radio&pg=PA3 |title=Jean-Michel Redouté, Michiel Steyaert, EMC of Analog Integrated Circuits |page=3 |access-date=18 March 2013 |isbn=978-90-481-3230-0 |last1=Redouté |first1=Jean-Michel |last2=Steyaert |first2=Michiel |date=10 October 2009 |publisher=Springer |archive-date=23 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240323123811/https://books.google.com/books?id=c92LQsxMxEUC&q=British+Court+tesla+radio&pg=PA3#v=snippet&q=British%20Court%20tesla%20radio&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> The court declared that their decision had no bearing on Marconi's claim as the first to achieve radio transmission, just that since Marconi's claim to certain patented improvements were questionable, the company could not claim infringement on those same patents.<ref name="earlyradiohistory.us" /><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SdGaiV6iup0C&q=supreme+court+1943+radio+marconi&pg=PA3 |title=Robert Sobot, Wireless Communication Electronics:Introduction to RF Circuits and Design Techniques |page=4 |date=18 February 2012 |access-date=18 March 2013 |isbn=978-1-4614-1116-1 |last1=Sobot |first1=Robert |publisher=Springer |archive-date=23 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240323123556/https://books.google.com/books?id=SdGaiV6iup0C&q=supreme+court+1943+radio+marconi&pg=PA3#v=snippet&q=supreme%20court%201943%20radio%20marconi&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
At this time, he was staying at the ], renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to ], proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria to pay a $20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received ]'s highest honor, the ]. | |||
=== Nobel Prize rumors === | |||
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive ] units. <ref>Page, R.M., "''The Early History of RADAR''", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).</ref> In 1934, ], working with the first French RADAR systems, stated he was building RADAR systems "''conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla''". By the ], Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the ] government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the ] government ended negotiations. | |||
]'s book ''Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis'', in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.]] | |||
On Tesla's seventy-fifth birthday in 1931, ] put him on its cover. <ref>"''''". Tesla Society. </ref> The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of ] ]. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul Janković of his homeland. The letter contained the message of gratitude to ] who initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, and chose to live by a modest pension received from Yugoslavia and to continue researching. | |||
On 6 November 1915, a ] news agency report from London had the 1915 ] awarded to Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla; however, on 15 November, a Reuters story from Stockholm stated the prize that year was being awarded to ] and ] "for their services in the analysis of crystal structure by means of X-rays".{{sfn|Cheney|2001|p=245}}<ref>{{cite web |title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 1915 |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1915/ |publisher=nobelprize.org |access-date=29 July 2012 |archive-date=8 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120808195305/http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1915/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Cheney|Uth|Glenn|1999|p=120}}</ref> There were unsubstantiated rumors at the time that either Tesla or Edison had refused the prize.{{sfn|Cheney|2001|p=245}} The Nobel Foundation said, "Any rumor that a person has not been given a Nobel Prize because he has made known his intention to refuse the reward is ridiculous"; a recipient could decline a Nobel Prize only after he is announced a winner.{{sfn|Cheney|2001|p=245}} | |||
===Field theories=== | |||
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a ]. He stated that it was "''worked out in all details''" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world.<small><sub></sub></small> The theory was never ]ed. At the time of his announcement, it was considered by the scientific establishment to exceed the bounds of reason. Most believe that Tesla never fully developed the Unified Field Theory. | |||
There have been subsequent claims by Tesla biographers that Edison and Tesla were the original recipients and that neither was given the award because of their animosity toward each other; that each sought to minimize the other's achievements and right to win the award; that both refused ever to accept the award if the other received it first; that both rejected any possibility of sharing it; and even that a wealthy Edison refused it to keep Tesla from getting the $20,000 prize money.{{sfn|Seifer|2001|p=7}}{{sfn|Cheney|2001|p=245}} | |||
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with ] and high ] electromagnetism and patenting devices for their utilization. It was completed, according to Tesla, by the end of the 1930s. Tesla's theory explained gravity using ] consisting of ]s (to a lesser extent) and ]s (for the majority). Reminiscent of ], Tesla stated in 1925 that, | |||
In the years after these rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won a Nobel prize (although Edison received one of 38 possible bids in 1915 and Tesla received one of 38 possible bids in 1937).{{sfn|Seifer|2001|pp=378–380}} | |||
: ''There is no thing endowed with life - from man, who is enslaving the elements, to the nimblest creature - in all this world that does not sway in its turn. Whenever action is born from force, though it be infinitesimal, the cosmic balance is upset and the universal motion results.'' | |||
=== Other awards, patents and ideas === | |||
Tesla, concerning ]'s ], stated that '...the relativity theory, by the way, is much older than its present proponents. It was advanced over 200 years ago by my illustrious countryman ], the great philosopher, who, not withstanding other and multifold obligations, wrote a thousand volumes of excellent literature on a vast variety of subjects. Bošković dealt with relativity, including the so-called time-space continuum...', <ref>1936 unpublished interview, quoted in Anderson, L, ed. Nikola Tesla: Lecture Before the New York Academy of Sciences: The Streams of Lenard and Roentgen and Novel Apparatus for Their Production, ] ], reconstructed 1994</ref>. | |||
Tesla won numerous medals and awards over this time. They include: | |||
* Grand Officer of the ] (], 1892) | |||
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, | |||
* ] (], US, 1894)<ref name="pg">{{cite book|last1=Goldman|first1=Phyllis|title=Monkeyshines on Great Inventors|date=1997|publisher=EBSCO Publishing, Inc.|location=Greensboro, NC|isbn=978-1-888325-04-1|page=15|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SKOmiByD_X8C|language=en|access-date=14 May 2020|archive-date=23 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240323123811/https://books.google.com/books?id=SKOmiByD_X8C|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
: ''... magnificent mathematical garb which fascinates, dazzles and makes people blind to the underlying errors. The theory is like a beggar clothed in purple whom ignorant people take for a king...., its exponents are brilliant men but they are metaphysicists rather than scientists...'' <ref>New York Times, ] ], p23, c.8</ref>. | |||
* Grand Cross of the ] (], 1895)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Acović|first=Dragomir|title=Slava i čast: Odlikovanja među Srbima, Srbi među odlikovanjima|year=2012|location=Belgrade|publisher=Službeni Glasnik|pages=85}}</ref> | |||
* Member of the ] (US, 1896)<ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Nikola+Tesla&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=11 March 2024 |website=American Philosophical Society |archive-date=11 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240311152707/https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Nikola+Tesla&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
* ] (], US, 1916)<ref name="EdisonMedal">{{cite web|title=IEEE Edison Medal Recipient List|url=https://www.ieee.org/content/dam/ieee-org/ieee/web/org/about/awards/recipients/edison_rl.pdf|publisher=Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)|access-date=4 June 2022|archive-date=28 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210128155822/https://www.ieee.org/content/dam/ieee-org/ieee/web/org/about/awards/recipients/edison_rl.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> | |||
* Grand Cross of the ] (], 1926)<ref name="eserbia">{{cite web|title=Culture|url=http://www.eserbia.org/culture/lectures/288-nikola-tesla-and-the-serbian-orthodox-church-a-st-sava-s-day-reflection|website=www.eserbia.org|access-date=16 January 2017|archive-date=13 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170213134050/http://www.eserbia.org/culture/lectures/288-nikola-tesla-and-the-serbian-orthodox-church-a-st-sava-s-day-reflection|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
* Cross of the ] (], 1931) | |||
* ] (] & ], US, 1934)<ref name=pg /> | |||
* ] (], 1936) | |||
* Grand Cross of the ] (], 1937){{sfn|Cheney|2011|p=312}} | |||
* Medal of the ] (Paris, France, 1937) | |||
* The Medal of the University St. Clement of Ochrida (], 1939) | |||
] | |||
Tesla also stated that: | |||
: ''I hold that space cannot be curved, for the simple reason that it can have no properties. It might as well be said that God has properties. He has not, but only attributes and these are of our own making. Of properties we can only speak when dealing with matter filling the space. To say that in the presence of large bodies space becomes curved is equivalent to stating that something can act upon nothing. I, for one, refuse to subscribe to such a view.'', <ref>;], ] ]</ref> | |||
Tesla attempted to market several devices based on the production of ]. These included his 1900 Tesla Ozone Company selling an 1896 patented device based on his Tesla coil, used to bubble ozone through different types of oils to make a therapeutic gel.<ref>Anand Kumar Sethi (2016). ''The European Edisons: Volta, Tesla, and Tigerstedt'', Springer. pp. 53–54</ref> He also tried to develop a variation of this a few years later as a room sanitizer for hospitals.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=353}} | |||
===Directed-energy weapon=== | |||
Later in life, Tesla made some remarkable claims concerning a "]" weapon <ref>"Tesla's Ray". Time, July 23, 1934.</ref> The press called it a "''peace ray''" or death ray. <ref>"Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, July 11, 1934.</ref> <ref> "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, July 10, 1934. </ref> | |||
In total, the components and methods included <ref> "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, July 11, 1934.</ref><ref> "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.</ref>: | |||
# An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished. | |||
# A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished. | |||
# A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism. | |||
# A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention. | |||
Tesla theorized that the application of electricity to the brain enhanced intelligence. In 1912, he crafted "a plan to make dull students bright by saturating them unconsciously with electricity," wiring the walls of a schoolroom and, "saturating with infinitesimal electric waves vibrating at high frequency. The whole room will thus, Mr. Tesla claims, be converted into a health-giving and stimulating electromagnetic field or 'bath.'"<ref name="Gilliams">{{cite web |last1=Gilliams |first1=E. Leslie |title=Tesla's Plan of Electrically Treating Schoolchildren |url=http://www.teslacollection.com/tesla_articles/1912/popular_electricity_magazine/e_leslie_gilliams/tesla_s_plan_of_electrically_treating_school_children |via=teslacollection.com |work=Popular Electricity Magazine |date=1912 |access-date=19 August 2014 |archive-date=9 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150109004431/http://www.teslacollection.com/tesla_articles/1912/popular_electricity_magazine/e_leslie_gilliams/tesla_s_plan_of_electrically_treating_school_children |url-status=live }}</ref> The plan was, at least provisionally, approved by then superintendent of New York City schools, William H. Maxwell.<ref name="Gilliams" /> | |||
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon between the early 1900s till the time of his death. In ], Tesla composed a treatise entitled "''The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media''" concerning ]s. <ref> Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN 1-55972-329-7 (HC) pg. 454 </ref> Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "] that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the ] is currently in the ] archive in ]. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through ] repulsion). <ref> Seifer, "Wizard" pg. 454 </ref> | |||
Before ], Tesla sought overseas investors. After the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. | |||
Records of his indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid ] or ] accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his ]). Tesla gave the following description concerning the '']'''s operation: | |||
: "''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 200 miles from a defending nation's border and will cause armies to drop dead in their tracks''". <ref> "Beam to Kill Army at 200 Miles, Tesla's Claim on 78th Birthday". July 11, 1934.</ref>The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. <ref>"'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, September 22, 1940.</ref> Tesla tried to interest the ] in the device. <ref>"Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" July 12, 1940</ref> He also offered this invention to European countries.<ref> O'Neill, John J., "". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS)</ref> None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. <ref> Velox, . everything2.com</ref> | |||
In the August 1917 edition of the magazine '']'', Tesla postulated that electricity could be used to locate submarines via using the reflection of an "electric ray" of "tremendous frequency," with the signal being viewed on a fluorescent screen (a system that has been noted to have a superficial resemblance to modern ]).<ref>Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, Jim Glenn, ''Tesla, Master of Lightning,'' pp. 128–129</ref> Tesla was incorrect in his assumption that high-frequency radio waves would penetrate water.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W1JAeg1PiWIC&pg=PA154|title=Lewis Coe (2006). ''Wireless Radio: A History''. McFarland. p. 154|isbn=978-0-7864-2662-1|last1=Coe|first1=Lewis|date=8 February 2006|publisher=McFarland }}</ref> ], who helped develop France's first radar system in the 1930s, noted in 1953 that Tesla's general speculation that a very strong high-frequency signal would be needed was correct. Girardeau said, "(Tesla) was prophesying or dreaming, since he had at his disposal no means of carrying them out, but one must add that if he was dreaming, at least he was dreaming correctly".{{sfn|Cheney|2001|p=266}} | |||
===Theoretical Inventions=== | |||
Tesla began to theorize about electricity and magnetisms power to warp, or rather change, ] and ] and the procedure by which man could forcibly control this power. Near the end of his life, Tesla was fascinated with the idea of light as both a ] and a ], the fundamental proposition of what would become ]. This field of inquiry led to the idea of creating a "wall of light" by manipulating electromagnetic waves in a certain pattern. This mysterious wall of light would enable time, space, gravity and matter to be altered at will, and engendered an array of Tesla proposals that seem to leap straight out of ], including ] airships, ], and ]. The single strangest invention Tesla ever proposed was probably the "thought photography" machine. He reasoned that a thought formed in the mind created a corresponding image in the retina, and the electrical data of this neural transmission could be read and recorded in a machine. The stored information could then be processed through an artificial ] and played back as visual patterns on a viewscreen. | |||
In 1928, Tesla received patent, {{US patent|1,655,114}}, for a ] design capable of ] (VTOL), which "gradually tilted through manipulation of the elevator devices" in flight until it was flying like a conventional plane.<ref>{{cite web |last=Tesla |first=Nikola |title=TESLA PATENT 1,655,114 APPARATUS FOR AERIAL TRANSPORTATION. |url=https://teslauniverse.com/nikola-tesla-patents-1,655,114-aerial-transportation |publisher=U.S. Patent Office |access-date=20 July 2012 |archive-date=20 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120720092018/http://www.teslauniverse.com/nikola-tesla-patents-1,655,114-aerial-transportation |url-status=live }}</ref> This impractical design was something Tesla thought would sell for less than $1,000.{{sfn|Cheney|2001|p=251}}<ref name="airspacemag">{{cite web |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/nikola-teslas-curious-contrivance-10187565/ |title="Nikola Tesla's Curious Contrivance" by A.J.S. RAYL Air & Space magazine, September 2006, reprint at History of Flight |publisher=airspacemag.com |access-date=10 September 2012 |archive-date=27 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220127184244/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/nikola-teslas-curious-contrivance-10187565/ |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as ''Tesla's Flying Machine.'' Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ], ], or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. This fact later enticed ] conspiracy theorists. | |||
Tesla had a further office at 350 Madison Ave<ref>Valentine Korah, An Introductory Guide to EC Competition Law and Practice, Sweet & Maxwell – 1928, page 235</ref> but by 1928 he no longer had a laboratory or funding.<ref name="airspacemag" /> | |||
== Death and afterwards == | |||
], 1952. in ], ]]] | |||
=== Living circumstances === | |||
Tesla died of ] alone in the ], some time between the evening of ] and the morning of ], ], at the age of 86. Despite selling his AC electricity patents, Tesla was essentially destitute and died with significant debts. Later that year the ] upheld Tesla's patent number in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio. | |||
Tesla lived at the ] in New York City from 1900 and ran up a large bill.{{sfn|Cheney|Uth|Glenn|1999|p=125}} He moved to the ] in 1922 and followed a pattern from then on of moving to a different hotel every few years and leaving unpaid bills behind.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=467-468}}{{sfn|O'Neill|1944|p=359}} | |||
Tesla walked to the park every day to feed the pigeons. He began feeding them at the window of his hotel room and nursed injured birds back to health.{{sfn|O'Neill|1944|p=359}}<ref>{{cite web|title=About Nikola Tesla |url=http://www.teslasociety.org/about.html |publisher=Tesla Memorial Society of NY |access-date=5 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120525133151/http://www.teslasociety.org/about.html |archive-date=25 May 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Tesla Life and Legacy – Poet and Visionary |url=https://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/ll_poevis.html |publisher=PBS |access-date=5 July 2012 |archive-date=8 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120708101441/http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/ll_poevis.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He said that he had been visited by a certain injured white pigeon daily. He spent over $2,000 ({{Inflation|US|2000|1922|r=-1|fmt=eq}}) to care for the bird, including a device he built to support her comfortably while her broken wing and leg healed.{{sfn|Seifer|2001|p=414}} Tesla stated: | |||
Immediately after Tesla's death became known, the ] instructed the ] to take possession of his papers and property, despite his US citizenship. His safe at the hotel was also opened. At the time of his death, Tesla had been continuing work on the '']'' weapon, or ''death ray'', that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that his proposed death ray was related to his research into ] and ] and was composed of a ]. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe. After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be ]. The so-called "''peace ray''" constitutes a part of some ] as a means of destruction. The personal effects were seized on the advice of presidential advisors, and ] declared the case "most secret", because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. <ref>Hoover, John Edgar, et al., , 1943.</ref> One document states that " is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments ". ] reported that there were several "missing" papers and property. <ref>http://www.teslasociety.com/muzar.htm</ref> | |||
{{blockquote|I have been feeding pigeons, thousands of them for years. But there was one, a beautiful bird, pure white with light grey tips on its wings; that one was different. It was a female. I had only to wish and call her and she would come flying to me. I loved that pigeon as a man loves a woman, and she loved me. As long as I had her, there was a purpose to my life.<ref>{{cite web|title=About Nikola Tesla |url=http://www.teslasociety.org/about.html |publisher=Tesla Society of USA and Canada |access-date=5 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120525133151/http://www.teslasociety.org/about.html |archive-date=25 May 2012 }}</ref>}} | |||
]]] | |||
Tesla's unpaid bills, as well as complaints about the mess made by pigeons, led to his eviction from St. Regis in 1923. He was also forced to leave the ] in 1930 and the Hotel Governor Clinton in 1934.{{sfn|O'Neill|1944|p=359}} At one point he also took rooms at the ].{{sfn|Cheney|Uth|Glenn|1999|p=135}} | |||
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death due to the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually, his nephew, Sava Kosanoviċ, got possession of some of his personal effects which are now housed in the ] in ], ]. <ref></ref> Tesla's funeral took place on ], ], at the ] in ], ]. After the funeral, his body was cremated. His ashes were taken to ], ] in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum, where it resides to this day. | |||
Tesla moved to the ] in 1934. At this time Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company began paying him $125 ({{Inflation|US|125|1934|r=-1|fmt=eq}}) per month in addition to paying his rent. Accounts of how this came about vary. Several sources claim that Westinghouse was concerned, or possibly warned, about potential bad publicity arising from the impoverished conditions in which their former star inventor was living.{{sfn|Jonnes|2004|p=365}}<ref>{{harvnb|Cheney|Uth|Glenn|1999|p=149}}</ref><ref name="Seifer435">{{harvnb|Seifer|2001|p=435}}</ref>{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=379}} The payment has been described as being couched as a "consulting fee" to get around Tesla's aversion to accepting charity. Tesla biographer Marc Seifer described the Westinghouse payments as a type of "unspecified settlement".<ref name="Seifer435" /> | |||
Tesla did not like to pose for portraits. He did it only once for princess ], but that portrait is lost. His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, ], ], who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. Meštrović made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in ] and a statue (1955/56) placed at the ] Institute in ]. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the Ruđer Bošković Institute to receive a duplicate. | |||
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at ]. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of Gospić in 1986. | |||
=== Birthday press conferences === | |||
The year of 2006 was proclaimed by ], as well as the governments of ] and ], to be the year of Nikola Tesla. At the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, July 10th 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Nikola Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Nikola Tesla, most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor ] has been erected. In the nearby city of Gospić, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by ] (the original is in ]) was presented. | |||
] commemorating his 75th birthday]] | |||
In 1931, a young journalist whom Tesla befriended, ], organized a celebration for the inventor's 75th birthday.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.davidjkent-writer.com/2012/07/10/happy-birthday-nikola-tesla-a-scientific-rock-star-is-born/|title=Happy Birthday, Nikola Tesla – A Scientific Rock Star is Born|last=Kent|first=David J.|date=10 July 2012|website=Science Traveler|language=en-US|access-date=26 January 2019|archive-date=26 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190126221049/http://www.davidjkent-writer.com/2012/07/10/happy-birthday-nikola-tesla-a-scientific-rock-star-is-born/|url-status=live}}</ref> Tesla received congratulations from figures in science and engineering such as ],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.teslasociety.com/time.jpg|title=Time front cover, Vol XVIII, No. 3|date=20 July 1931|access-date=10 September 2012|archive-date=7 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180707163714/http://www.teslasociety.com/time.jpg|url-status=live}}</ref> and he was also featured on the cover of ].<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Nikola Tesla|url=http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19310720,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070708020011/http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19310720,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=8 July 2007|magazine=Time|access-date=2 July 2012}}</ref> The cover caption "All the world's his power house" noted his contribution to ]. The party went so well that Tesla made it an annual event, an occasion where he would put out a large spread of food and drink—featuring dishes of his own creation. He invited the press in order to see his inventions and hear stories about his past exploits, views on current events, and sometimes baffling claims.{{sfn|Cheney|2001|p=151}}{{sfn|Carlson|2013|pp=380–382}} | |||
] | |||
In the years after, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and with some controversy, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in ] about ']'. | |||
At the 1932 party, Tesla claimed he had invented a motor that would run on ]s.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|pp=380–382}} | |||
In 1933, at age 77, Tesla told reporters at the event that, after 35 years of work, he was on the verge of producing proof of a new form of energy. He claimed it was a theory of energy that was "violently opposed" to Einsteinian physics and could be tapped with an apparatus that would be cheap to run and last 500 years. He also told reporters he was working on a way to transmit individualized private radio wavelengths, working on breakthroughs in ], and developing a way to photograph the ] to record thought.<ref>Tesla Predicts New Source of Power in Year, New York Herald Tribune, 9 July 1933</ref> | |||
At the 1934 occasion, Tesla told reporters he had designed a ] he claimed would end all war.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Tesla's Ray |magazine=Time |date=23 July 1934}}</ref><ref name="seifer1">{{cite web |last=Seifer |first=Marc |title=Tesla's "Death Ray" Machine |url=http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/tesla/esp_tesla_2.htm |publisher=bibliotecapleyades.net |access-date=4 July 2012 |archive-date=24 June 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060624171605/http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/tesla/esp_tesla_2.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> He called it "]", but was usually referred to as his ].<ref>Cheney, Margaret & Uth, Robert (2001). Tesla: Master of Lightning. Barnes & Noble Books. p. 158</ref> In 1940, the '']'' gave a range for the ray of {{convert|250|mi}}, with an expected development cost of US$2 million (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|2|1940|r=2}} million in {{Inflation/year|US}}).<ref name="pmnyt1940">{{cite web |url=https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a44197280/did-the-us-government-steal-nikola-teslas-research/ |title=Did the U.S. Government Really Steal Nikola Tesla's Research Papers? |first=Jessica |last=Coulon |date=14 June 2023 |accessdate=26 June 2023 |work=] |archive-date=26 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230626231358/https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a44197280/did-the-us-government-steal-nikola-teslas-research/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Tesla described it as a defensive weapon that would be put up along the border of a country and be used against attacking ground-based infantry or aircraft. Tesla never revealed detailed plans of how the weapon worked during his lifetime but, in 1984, they surfaced at the ] archive in ].{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=382}} The treatise, ''The New Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media'', described an open-ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allows particles to exit, a method of charging slugs of tungsten or mercury to millions of volts, and directing them in streams (through ] repulsion).{{sfn|Carlson|2013|pp=380–382}}{{sfn|Seifer|1998|p=454}} Tesla tried to attract interest of the ],<ref>"Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U.S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940</ref> United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia in the device.<ref>{{cite web |last=Seifer |first=Marc J. |title=Tesla's "death ray" machine |url=http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/tesla/esp_tesla_2.htm |access-date=5 September 2012 |archive-date=24 June 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060624171605/http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/tesla/esp_tesla_2.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
== Relations and friendships == | |||
] | |||
In 1935, at his 79th birthday party, Tesla covered many topics. He claimed to have discovered the cosmic ray in 1896 and invented a way to produce direct current by ], and made many claims about his ].<ref name="ReferenceA">Earl Sparling, NIKOLA TESLA, AT 79, USES EARTH TO TRANSMIT SIGNALS: EXPECTS TO HAVE $100,000,000 WITHIN TWO YEARS, New York World-Telegram, 11 July 1935</ref> Describing the device (which he expected would earn him $100 million within two years) he told reporters that a version of his oscillator had caused an earthquake in his 46 East Houston Street lab and neighboring streets in ] in 1898.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> He went on to tell reporters his oscillator could destroy the ] with {{convert|5|lb}} of air pressure.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=380}} He also proposed using his oscillators to transmit vibrations into the ground. He claimed it would work over any distance and could be used for communication or locating underground mineral deposits, a technique he called "]".<ref name="Anderson" /> | |||
In his middle life, Nikola Tesla became very close friends with ]. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere. Tesla was also friends with ]. He had an amicable relations with, among others, ], ], ], ], and ]. He remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla who was quoted as saying, "He had no hobby, cared for no sort of amusement of any kind and lived in utter disregard of the most elementary rules of hygiene" and that, "His method was inefficient in the extreme, for an immense ground had to be covered to get anything at all unless blind chance intervened and, at first, I was almost a sorry witness of his doings, knowing that just a little theory and calculation would have saved him 90 per cent of the labor. But he had a veritable contempt for book learning and mathematical knowledge, trusting himself entirely to his inventor's instinct and practical American sense." | |||
In 1937, at his Grand Ballroom of Hotel New Yorker event, Tesla received the ] from the Czechoslovak ambassador and a medal from the Yugoslav ambassador. On questions concerning the death ray, Tesla stated: "But it is not an experiment ... I have built, demonstrated and used it. Only a little time will pass before I can give it to the world."{{sfn|Carlson|2013|pp=380–382}} | |||
==Personal views== | |||
Tesla believed that ] could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general.<ref>Secor, H. Winfield, "''''", ], Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.</ref> He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. <ref>"''''" Albany Telegram, February 25, 1923. (])</ref> | |||
== Death == | |||
''"One day man will connect his apparatus to the very wheelwork of the universe... and the very forces that motivate the planets in their orbits and cause them to rotate will rotate his own machinery,"'' he predicted. | |||
], where Tesla died]] | |||
] | |||
In the fall of 1937 at the age of 81, after midnight one night, Tesla left the Hotel New Yorker to make his regular commute to the cathedral and library to feed the pigeons. While crossing a street a couple of blocks from the hotel, Tesla was struck by a moving taxicab and was thrown to the ground. His back was severely wrenched and three of his ribs were broken in the accident. The full extent of his injuries was never known; Tesla refused to consult a doctor, an almost lifelong custom, and never fully recovered.{{sfn|O'Neill|1944|p=313}}{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=389}} | |||
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed ] version of ]. In a 1937 interview, he stated, | |||
: ''man's new sense of pity began to interfere with the ruthless workings of nature. The only method compatible with our notions of civilization and the race is to prevent the breeding of the unfit by sterilization and the deliberate guidance of the mating instinct ''''. The trend of opinion among eugenists is that we must make marriage more difficult. Certainly no one who is not a desirable parent should be permitted to produce progeny. A century from now it will no more occur to a normal person to mate with a person eugenically unfit than to marry a habitual criminal''. <ref>Viereck, George Sylvester, and Nikola Tesla, "'' - A Famous Inventor, Picturing Life 100 Years from Now, Reveals an Astounding Scientific Venture Which He Believes Will Change the Course of History''". Liberty, February 1937.</ref> | |||
In 1926, Tesla in an interview, commenting on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward ], indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. <ref>Kennedy, John B., "'', An interview with Nikola Tesla''". ], January 30, 1926.</ref> | |||
On 7 January 1943, at the age of 86, Tesla died alone in Room 3327 of the ]. His body was found by maid Alice Monaghan when she entered Tesla's room, ignoring the "do not disturb" sign that Tesla had placed on his door two days earlier. Assistant medical examiner H.W. Wembley examined the body and ruled that the cause of death had been ] (a type of heart attack). | |||
== Education == | |||
Tesla was fluent in many languages. As well as ]-], he also spoke seven other languages: ], ], ], ], ], ], and ]. | |||
Two days later the ] ordered the ] to seize Tesla's belongings. ], a professor at ] and a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the ], was called in to analyze the Tesla items. After a three-day investigation, Trump's report concluded that there was nothing which would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands, stating: | |||
;Degrees and graduate studies | |||
Tesla studied mathematics, physics and engineering at the Polytechnic School in Graz, Austria, now the Technische Universität Graz. Two sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz.<ref>{{cite journal | |||
| last = Wysock | |||
| first = W.C. | |||
| coauthors = J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum | |||
| title = Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials) | |||
| journal = Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper | |||
| publisher = Unknown | |||
| date = October 22,2001 | |||
| url = http://www.ttr.com/Who%20Was%20Dr%20Tesla.pdf | |||
}}</ref> <ref> "" | |||
]d 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering)</ref> The University denies that he received a degree and says that he did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures.<ref>http://www.serbnatlfed.org/Archives/Tesla/TeslaBook.htm</ref> Others have stated that he was discharged without a degree for nonpayment of his tuition for the first semester of his junior year.<ref>{{cite web | |||
| last = Wohinz | |||
| first = Josef W. | |||
| title = Nikola Tesla und Graz | |||
| publisher = Technischen Universität Graz | |||
| date = May 16, 2006 | |||
| url = http://www.presse.tugraz.at//pressemitteilungen/2006/16.05.2006_graz.htm | |||
| accessdate = January 29, 2006 }}</ref> <ref> | |||
{{cite book | |||
| last = Wohinz | |||
| first = Josef W. (Ed,) | |||
| title = Nikola Tesla und die Technik in Graz | |||
| publisher = Verlag der Technischen Universität Graz | |||
| date = 2006 | |||
| location = Graz, Austria | |||
| id = ISBN -10:3-902465-39-5; ISBN -13:978-3-902465-39-9. | |||
}} page 16</ref> According to a college roommate of Tesla, he did not graduate.<ref> {{cite news | |||
| last = Kulishich | |||
| first = Kosta | |||
| title = Tesla Nearly Missed His Career as Inventor: College Roommate Tells | |||
| publisher = Newark News | |||
| date = August 27, 1931, cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 | |||
}}</ref> Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand branch of the University of Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. After his father died, Tesla moved to Budapest in January 1881 where he found work as a draftsman at the Central Telegraph office.<ref>{{cite book | |||
| last = Seifer | |||
| first = Marc | |||
| title = Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius | |||
| publisher = Carol Publishing Group | |||
| date = 1996 | |||
| location = Secaucus, NJ | |||
| id = ISBN 1-55972-329-7}}</ref> | |||
{{blockquote|His thoughts and efforts during at least the past 15 years were primarily of a speculative, philosophical, and somewhat promotional character often concerned with the production and wireless transmission of power; but did not include new, sound, workable principles or methods for realizing such results.<ref name="autogeneratedll">{{cite web |title=The Missing Papers |url=https://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/ll_mispapers.html |publisher=PBS |access-date=5 July 2012 |archive-date=24 January 2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010124064300/https://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/ll_mispapers.html |url-status=live }}</ref>}} | |||
;Docteur Honoris Causa | |||
For his work Tesla received numerous ] from a number of universities to include: ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], and ] | |||
In a box purported to contain a part of Tesla's "death ray", Trump found a 45-year-old ].<ref>{{harvnb|Childress|1993|p=249}}</ref> | |||
;''Further reading'' | |||
: ''For more information on Dr. Tesla's education and certifications, see'': | |||
: * W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, "''?'' (A Look At His Professional Credentials)". Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22–25, 2001 (]) | |||
On 10 January 1943, New York City mayor ] read a eulogy written by Slovene-American author ] live over ] radio while violin pieces "]" and "]" were played in the background. On 12 January, two thousand people attended a state funeral for Tesla at the ] in Manhattan. After the funeral, Tesla's body was taken to the ] in Ardsley, New York, where it was later cremated. The following day, a second service was conducted by prominent priests in the Trinity Chapel (today's ]) in New York City. | |||
== Recognition and honors == | |||
== Personal life and character == | |||
;Scientific societies | |||
As the result of his achievements in the development of electricity and radio, Nikola Tesla received many awards and accolades. He was selected as a fellow of the ] (at the time the ]) and was awarded its most prestigious prize, the ]. He was also made a fellow of the ], and accepted invitations to become a member of the ], and the ]. Because of his research in ] and his invention of high frequency oscillators, he was also made a fellow of the ]. | |||
;SI Unit | |||
The scientific compound derived ] unit measuring ] or ] induction (commonly known as the ] <math>B\,</math>), the ], was named in his honor (at the ''Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures'', ], 1960). | |||
;IEEE Nikola Tesla Award | |||
In 1975 the ] (IEEE) created a ] via an agreement between the IEEE Power Engineering Society and the IEEE Board of Directors. It is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of ]. The Tesla award is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. | |||
<ref>IEEE, "''''. Apr 01, 2005.</ref> | |||
]]] | |||
;Belgrade airport | |||
On ], ] in honor of his 150th birthday the biggest airport in Serbia (]) was renamed ]. | |||
] | |||
;Yugoslavian/Serbian currency | |||
]<ref></ref>.]] | |||
] | |||
Nikola Tesla was featured on the currency of the former Yugoslavia. The current 100 ] banknotes issued by the ] have a picture of a handsome young Tesla on the obverse (front side). On the reverse side there is portion of drawing of an induction motor from his patent application and a photograph of Tesla holding a ] emitting light as a result of electric induction. | |||
Tesla was a lifelong bachelor, who had once explained that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities.{{sfn|Cheney|2001|p=33}} In an interview with the ''Galveston Daily News'' on 10 August 1924 he stated, "Now the soft-voiced gentlewoman of my reverent worship has all but vanished. In her place has come the woman who thinks that her chief success in life lies in making herself as much as possible like man—in dress, voice and actions..."{{sfn|Cheney|Uth|Glenn|1999|p=135}} Although he told a reporter in later years that he sometimes felt that by not marrying, he had made too great a sacrifice to his work,{{sfn|Seifer|2001|p=414}} Tesla chose to never pursue or engage in any known relationships, instead finding all the stimulation he needed in his work. | |||
;Cosmological objects | |||
The ] on the far side of the ] and the ] ] are named after Tesla. | |||
Tesla was asocial and prone to seclude himself with his work.{{sfn|Jonnes|2004}}{{Sfn|Cheney|Uth|Glenn|1999|loc=Preface}}<ref>{{cite book|title=AC/DC: The Savage Tale of the First Standards War|year=2011|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-118-04702-6|pages=163–64|first=Tom|last=McNichol|quote=Tesla's peculiar nature made him a solitary man, a loner in a field that was becoming so complex that it demanded collaboration.}}</ref> However, when he did engage in social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of Tesla. ] described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force".{{sfn|Seifer|2001|p=130}} His secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul".{{sfn|O'Neill|1944|p=289}} Tesla's friend, ], wrote, "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink".{{sfn|Cheney|2001|p=80}} | |||
;Electric power stations | |||
Two of the ] fired power stations run by ], ] and ], are named in honor of Tesla. <ref></ref> | |||
Tesla was a good friend of ], Robert Underwood Johnson,<ref name="teslasociety1" /> ],<ref>{{cite web|title=Stanford White|url=http://www.teslasociety.com/stanford.htm|publisher=Tesla Memorial Society of NY|access-date=4 July 2012|archive-date=28 November 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101128204919/http://teslasociety.com/stanford.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey.<ref>{{citation|first=Kenneth M.|last=Swezey|title=Papers 1891–1982|volume=47|url=http://americanhistory.si.edu/archives/d8047.htm|publisher=National Museum of American History|access-date=4 July 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120505004025/http://americanhistory.si.edu/archives/d8047.htm|archive-date=5 May 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Tribute to Nikola Tesla|url=http://www.teslasociety.com/posterbook.htm|publisher=Tesla Memorial Society of NY|access-date=4 July 2012|archive-date=13 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613113120/http://teslasociety.com/posterbook.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Nikola Tesla at Wardenclyffe|url=http://www.teslasociety.com/warden.htm|publisher=Tesla Memorial Society of NY|access-date=4 July 2012|archive-date=29 November 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101129042338/http://teslasociety.com/warden.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> In middle age, Tesla became a close friend of ]; they spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.<ref name="teslasociety1">{{cite web|title=Famous Friends|url=http://www.teslasociety.com/famousfriends.htm|publisher=Tesla Memorial Society of NY|access-date=4 July 2012|archive-date=28 November 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101128190309/http://teslasociety.com/famousfriends.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Twain notably described Tesla's ] invention as "the most valuable patent since the telephone".<ref>{{cite news|title=Nikola Tesla: The patron saint of geeks?|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19503846|work=News Magazine|publisher=BBC|access-date=10 September 2012|date=10 September 2012|archive-date=10 September 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120910191948/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19503846|url-status=live}}</ref> At a party thrown by actress ] in 1896, Tesla met Indian Hindu monk ]. Vivekananda later wrote that Tesla said he could demonstrate mathematically the relationship between matter and energy, something Vivekananda hoped would give a scientific foundation to ] cosmology.<ref>Kak, S. (2017) Tesla, wireless energy transmission and Vivekananda. Current Science, vol. 113, 2207–2210.</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=30PeCQAAQBAJ&q=tesla+Vivekananda&pg=PT24|title=Swami Vivekananda: A Contemporary Reader edited by Makarand R. Paranjape|isbn=978-1-317-44636-1|last1=Paranjape|first1=Makarand R.|date=12 June 2015|publisher=Routledge|access-date=4 May 2021|archive-date=23 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240323124315/https://books.google.com/books?id=30PeCQAAQBAJ&q=tesla+Vivekananda&pg=PT24#v=snippet&q=tesla%20Vivekananda&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> The meeting with Swami Vivekananda stimulated Tesla's interest in Eastern Science, which led to Tesla studying Hindu and ] for a number of years.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nikola Tesla and Swami Vivekananda |url=https://www.teslasociety.com/tesla_and_swami.htm |access-date=20 December 2022 |website=www.teslasociety.com |archive-date=20 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221220143353/https://www.teslasociety.com/tesla_and_swami.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Tesla later wrote an article titled "Man's Greatest Achievement" using Sanskrit terms ] and ] to describe the relationship between matter and energy.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Influence Vedic Philosophy Had on Nikola Tesla's Idea of Free Energy – SAND |url=https://www.scienceandnonduality.com/article/the-influence-vedic-philosophy-had-on-nikola-teslas-idea-of-free-energy |access-date=20 December 2022 |website=The Influence Vedic Philosophy Had on Nikola Tesla’s Idea of Free Energy – SAND |language=en |archive-date=20 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221220143355/https://www.scienceandnonduality.com/article/the-influence-vedic-philosophy-had-on-nikola-teslas-idea-of-free-energy |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=(PDF) Tesla (1930)-Man's Greatest Achievement.pdf |url=https://dokumen.tips/documents/tesla-1930-mans-greatest-achievementpdf.html |access-date=20 December 2022 |website=dokumen.tips |language=en |archive-date=20 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221220143359/https://dokumen.tips/documents/tesla-1930-mans-greatest-achievementpdf.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In the late 1920s, Tesla befriended ], a poet, writer, mystic, and later, a ] propagandist. Tesla occasionally attended dinner parties held by Viereck and his wife.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Cheney |first1=Margaret|last2=Uth |first2=Robert|name-list-style=amp|date=2001|title=Tesla: Master of Lightning|publisher=Barnes & Noble Books|page=137}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Johnson|first=Neil M.|title=George Sylvester Viereck: Poet and Propagandist|publisher=Neil M. Johnson}}</ref> | |||
;Commerce | |||
The Croatian subsidiary of ] is named '''] d.d.''' ('''Nikola Tesla''' was a phone hardware company in ] before Ericsson bought it in 1990s) in honour of Nikola Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication. | |||
Tesla could be harsh at times and openly expressed disgust for overweight people, such as when he fired a secretary because of her weight.{{sfn|Cheney|2001|p=110}} He was quick to criticize clothing; on several occasions, Tesla directed a subordinate to go home and change her dress.{{sfn|Cheney|2001|p=33}} When ] died in 1931, Tesla contributed the only negative opinion to '']'', buried in an extensive coverage of Edison's life: | |||
;Train | |||
] Metro in London has a train named "Nikola Tesla", which, like the rest of the rollingstock, is an electrically powered train that can take power from either trackside and overhead power lines within the same journey on the ]. | |||
{{blockquote|He had no hobby, cared for no sort of amusement of any kind and lived in utter disregard of the most elementary rules of hygiene ... His method was inefficient in the extreme, for an immense ground had to be covered to get anything at all unless blind chance intervened and, at first, I was almost a sorry witness of his doings, knowing that just a little theory and calculation would have saved him 90 percent of the labor. But he had a veritable contempt for book learning and mathematical knowledge, trusting himself entirely to his inventor's instinct and practical American sense.<ref name="lifeEdison">{{cite book |title=Thomas Edison: Life of an Electrifying Man |last=Biographiq |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-59986-216-3 |page=23 |publisher=Filiquarian Publishing, LLC.}}</ref><ref name="Edisonobit">{{cite news |author=<!--not stated--> |title=Tesla says Edison was an empiricist |date=19 October 1931 |work=New York Times |page=27 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1931/10/19/issue.html |access-date=15 January 2024 |ref=none |archive-date=23 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240323124240/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1931/10/19/issue.html |url-status=live }}</ref>}} | |||
;Sports car | |||
] states, "''The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla'' ''We‘re confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval''." <ref>, ], Inc., 2006 </ref> | |||
Tesla became a vegetarian in his later years, living on only milk, bread, honey, and vegetable juices.<ref name="seifer1" /><ref>{{cite web |last=Gitelman |first=Lisa |title=Reconciling the Visionary with the Inventor Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla |url=https://www.technologyreview.com/1997/11/01/237150/reconciling-the-visionary-with-the-inventor/ |publisher=technology review (MIT) |access-date=3 June 2012 |date=1 November 1997 |archive-date=22 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200922054715/https://www.technologyreview.com/1997/11/01/237150/reconciling-the-visionary-with-the-inventor/ |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
== Further readings and films == | |||
===Articles (pre-1900)=== | |||
*'''', Written by Tesla and others, 1888-1942. | |||
== Views and beliefs == | |||
*'''', The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24 | |||
] | |||
=== On experimental and theoretical physics === | |||
Tesla disagreed with the theory of atoms being composed of smaller ]s, stating there was no such thing as an ] creating an electric charge. He believed that if electrons existed at all, they were some fourth state of matter or "sub-atom" that could exist only in an experimental vacuum and that they had nothing to do with electricity.{{sfn|O'Neill|1944|p=249}}<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tCcDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA171 |title="The Prophet of Science Looks Into The Future," Popular Science November 1928, p. 171 |access-date=18 March 2013 |date=November 1928 |archive-date=23 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240323124316/https://books.google.com/books?id=tCcDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA171#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> Tesla believed that atoms are immutable—they could not change state or be split in any way. He was a believer in the 19th-century concept of an all-pervasive ] that transmitted electrical energy.<ref>{{harvnb|Seifer|2001|p=1745}}</ref> | |||
Tesla was generally antagonistic towards theories about the conversion of matter into energy.{{sfn|O'Neill|1944|p=247}} He was also critical of Einstein's ], saying: | |||
*Biography - '''', The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47 | |||
{{blockquote|I hold that space cannot be curved, for the simple reason that it can have no properties. It might as well be said that God has properties. He has not, but only attributes and these are of our own making. Of properties we can only speak when dealing with matter filling the space. To say that in the presence of large bodies space becomes curved is equivalent to stating that something can act upon nothing. I, for one, refuse to subscribe to such a view.<ref>'']'', 11 September 1932</ref>}} | |||
*'''', The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49 | |||
In 1935 he described relativity as "a beggar wrapped in purple whom ignorant people take for a king" and said his own experiments had measured the speed of cosmic rays from Arcturus as fifty times the speed of light.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tesla, 79, Promises to Transmit Force |url=http://teslaresearch.jimdofree.com/articles-interviews/tesla-79-promises-to-transmit-force-new-york-times-july-11-1935/ |access-date=6 July 2022 |website=Open Tesla Research |language=en-US |archive-date=1 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220701054231/https://teslaresearch.jimdofree.com/articles-interviews/tesla-79-promises-to-transmit-force-new-york-times-july-11-1935/ |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
*'''', The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55 | |||
Tesla claimed to have developed his own physical principle regarding matter and energy that he started working on in 1892,{{sfn|O'Neill|1944|p=247}} and in 1937, at age 81, claimed in a letter to have completed a "dynamic theory of gravity" that " put an end to idle speculations and false conceptions, as that of curved space". He stated that the theory was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724105436/http://www.tesla.hu/tesla/articles/19370710.doc |date=24 July 2011 }} downloadable from http://www.tesla.hu {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225022943/http://tesla.hu/ |date=25 December 2018 }}</ref> Further elucidation of his theory was never found in his writings.{{sfn|Cheney|2001|p=309}} | |||
===Books=== | |||
* ], "''Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856–1943)''", 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956. LCCN 56047430 /L | |||
* Cheney, Margaret, "''Tesla: Man Out of Time''", 1979. ISBN 0-13-906859-7 | |||
* Childress, David H., "''The Fantastic inventions of Nikola Tesla''," 1993. ISBN 0-932813-19-4 | |||
* Glenn, Jim, "''The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla,''" 1994. ISBN 1-56619-266-8 | |||
* Jonnes, Jill "''Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World''". New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN 0-375-50739-6 | |||
* Martin, Thomas C., "''The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla,''" 1894 . ISBN 0-88029-812-X | |||
* ],"''''," 1944. ISBN 0-914732-33-1 | |||
* Seifer, Marc J., "''Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla''," 1998. ISBN 1-55972-329-7 (HC), ISBN 0-8065-1960-6 (SC) | |||
* Tesla, Nikola, "''Colorado Springs Notes, 1899–1900", ISBN 0-89918-782-X | |||
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN 0-7607-0085-0; also online at "'''", 1919. ISBN 1-59986-994-2 | |||
* ], "''Harnessing the Wheelwork of Nature''," 2002. ISBN 1-931882-04-5 | |||
=== |
=== On society === | ||
{{Eugenics sidebar}} | |||
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "''Inventor of dreams''". ], March 2005 v292 i3 p78(7). | |||
Tesla is widely considered by his biographers to have been a ] in philosophical outlook.{{sfn|Jonnes|2004|p=154}}<ref>{{cite book |title=Innovation: The Lessons of Nikola Tesla |year=2008 |publisher=Blue Eagle |isbn=978-987-651-009-7 |page=43 |first1=Peter |last1=Belohlavek |first2=John W |last2=Wagner |quote=This was Tesla: a scientist, philosopher, humanist, and ethical man of the world in the truest sense.}}</ref> This did not preclude Tesla, like many of his era, from becoming a proponent of an imposed ] version of ]. | |||
* Jatras, Stella L., "''The genius of Nikola Tesla''". ], July 28, 2003 v19 i15 p9(1) | |||
* Rybak, James P., "''Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant''". ], 1042170X, Nov99, Vol. 16, Issue 11. | |||
* Lawren, B., "''Rediscovering Tesla''". ], Mar88, Vol. 10 Issue 6. | |||
Tesla expressed the belief that human "pity" had come to interfere with the natural "ruthless workings of nature". Though his argumentation did not depend on a concept of a "master race" or the inherent superiority of one person over another, he advocated for eugenics. In a 1937 interview he stated: | |||
===Documentary and biographical films=== | |||
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by ]. In 1980, ] produced a ]n film named ''Tajna Nikole Tesle'' (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. | |||
* "''''". 1999. ISBN 0-7607-1005-8 (Book) ISBN 0-7936-3549-7 (PBS Video) | |||
{{blockquote|... man's new sense of pity began to interfere with the ruthless workings of nature. The only method compatible with our notions of civilization and the race is to prevent the breeding of the unfit by sterilization and the deliberate guidance of the mating instinct ... The trend of opinion among eugenists is that we must make marriage more difficult. Certainly no one who is not a desirable parent should be permitted to produce progeny. A century from now it will no more occur to a normal person to mate with a person eugenically unfit than to marry a habitual criminal.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/tesla/res/res_art11.html |title=A Machine to End War |date=February 1937 |publisher=Public Broadcasting Service |access-date=23 November 2010 |archive-date=20 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220120214740/https://www.pbs.org/tesla/res/res_art11.html |url-status=live }}</ref>}} | |||
== Notes == | |||
<div class="references-small"><references/></div> | |||
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward ], and indicated that humanity's future would be run by "]". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future.<ref>Kennedy, John B., " {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606023652/http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/1926-01-30.htm |date=6 June 2011 }}, An interview with Nikola Tesla." ], 30 January 1926.</ref> | |||
== Sources == | |||
'''General information'''</br> | |||
''Biographies'' | |||
* Cheney, Margaret & Uth, Robert, "''Tesla, Master of Lightning''", published by Barnes & Noble, 1999 ISBN 0-7607-1005-8 | |||
* Germano, Frank, "''''". Frank. Germano.com. | |||
* Lomas, Robert, "''''". Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics. | |||
Tesla made predictions about the relevant issues of a post-World War I environment in a printed article entitled "Science and Discovery are the great Forces which will lead to the Consummation of the War" (20 December 1914).<ref>{{cite web |last=Tesla |first=Nikola |title=Science and Discovery are the great Forces which will lead to the Consummation of the War |url=http://www.rastko.rs/rastko/delo/10832 |publisher=Rastko |access-date=17 July 2012 |archive-date=2 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402053438/http://www.rastko.rs/rastko/delo/10832 |url-status=live }}</ref> Tesla believed that the ] was not a remedy for the times and issues.<ref name="tesla1" />{{better source needed|date=January 2022}} | |||
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, "''The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla''", New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN 0-88029-812-X | |||
=== On religion === | |||
* O'Neill, John J., "''''", 1944. ISBN 0-913022-40-3 (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also with other items at uncletaz's site]) | |||
Tesla was raised an ]. Later in life he did not consider himself to be a "believer in the orthodox sense", said he opposed ], and said "Buddhism and Christianity are the greatest religions both in number of disciples and in importance."<ref name="Viereck1937">{{cite web |title=A Machine to End War |url=https://www.pbs.org/tesla/res/res_art11.html |publisher=PBS.org |access-date=27 July 2012 |last=Tesla |first=Nikola |editor=George Sylvester Viereck |date=February 1937 |archive-date=20 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220120214740/https://www.pbs.org/tesla/res/res_art11.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He also said "To me, the universe is simply a great machine which never came into being and never will end" and "what we call 'soul' or 'spirit,' is nothing more than the sum of the functionings of the body. When this functioning ceases, the 'soul' or the 'spirit' ceases likewise."<ref name="Viereck1937" /> | |||
* Penner, John R.H. '''', corrupted version of My Inventions. | |||
* Pratt, H., "''Nikola Tesla 1856–1943''", Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956. | |||
* "''''". IEEE History Center, 2005. | |||
* Seifer, Marc J. "''Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius''", Secaucus, NJ:Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN 1-55972-329-7 | |||
* Weisstein, Eric W., "''''". Eric Weisstein's World of Science. | |||
== Literary works == | |||
''Other Research'' | |||
Tesla wrote a number of books and articles for magazines and journals.<ref>{{cite web |title=Nikola Tesla Bibliography |url=http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/bibliography.htm |publisher=21st Century Books |access-date=21 April 2011 |archive-date=27 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927044514/http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/bibliography.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Among his books are '']'', compiled and edited by Ben Johnston in 1983 from a series of 1919 magazine articles by Tesla which were republished in 1977; '']'' (1993), compiled and edited by ]; and ''The Tesla Papers''. | |||
*"''Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature''", . USGS, Astrogeology Research Program. | |||
*Dimitrijevic, Milan S., "''Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review''". Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade, 60 (1998), 162–170. Also, "''Srpski asteroidi, ''". Astronomski magazine. | |||
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., , 1943. | |||
* Pratt, H., "''Nikola Tesla 1856–1943''", Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956. | |||
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, "''?'' (A Look At His Professional Credentials)". Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22–25, 2001 (PDF) | |||
* Roguin, Ariel, "''Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit''". J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369–374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc. | |||
* Sellon, J. L., "''The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry''". Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125–133. ISBN 0-7803-3962-2 | |||
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., "''Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten?''" Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. Jul/Aug 1998, 17:4, p 74–75. ISSN 0739-5175 | |||
Many of Tesla's writings are freely available online,<ref>{{cite web|title=Selected Tesla writings|work=Nikola Tesla Information Resource|url=http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/contents.htm|access-date=15 March 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090130031901/http://tfcbooks.com/tesla/contents.htm|archive-date=30 January 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> including the article "The Problem of Increasing Human Energy", published in '']'' in 1900,<ref>{{cite web |title=THE PROBLEM OF INCREASING HUMAN ENERGY |url=http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/1900-06-00.htm |publisher=Twenty-First Century Books |access-date=21 April 2011 |archive-date=20 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191120001402/http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/1900-06-00.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> and the article "Experiments with Alternate Currents of High Potential and High Frequency", published in his book ''Inventions, Researches and Writings of Nikola Tesla''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Tesla |first=Nikola |title=The Project Gutenberg eBook, Experiments with Alternate Currents of High Potential and High Frequency, by Nikola Tesla |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/13476/13476-h/13476-h.htm |publisher=] |access-date=21 April 2011 |archive-date=16 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110916122641/http://www.gutenberg.org/files/13476/13476-h/13476-h.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Tesla |first=Nikola |title=EXPERIMENTS WITH ALTERNATE CURRENTS OF HIGH POTENTIAL AND HIGH FREQUENCY |url=http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/1892-02-03.htm |publisher=Twenty-First Century Books |access-date=21 April 2011 |archive-date=19 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919045738/http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/1892-02-03.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
;''Cosmic Rays'' | |||
* Waser, André, "''''". (PDF) | |||
== Legacy and honors == | |||
;''Views on War'' | |||
{{See also|Nikola Tesla in popular culture|List of things named after Nikola Tesla|List of Nikola Tesla patents}} | |||
* Secor, H. Winfield, "''Tesla's views on Electricity and the War''", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917. | |||
] (], Belgrade)]] | |||
* Florey, Glen, "''Tesla and the Military''". Engineering 24, December 5, 2000. | |||
In 1952, following pressure from Tesla's nephew, influential Yugoslav politician {{ill|Sava Kosanović|sr|Sava Kosanović (političar)}}, Tesla's entire estate was shipped to Belgrade in 80 trunks marked N.T. In 1957, Kosanović's secretary Charlotte Muzar transported Tesla's ashes from the United States to Belgrade. The ashes are displayed in a gold-plated sphere on a marble pedestal in the ].<ref>{{cite web |title=Urn with Tesla's ashes |url=http://www.tesla-museum.org/meni_en/muzej/3.htm |publisher=Tesla Museum |access-date=16 September 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120825230422/http://www.tesla-museum.org/meni_en/muzej/3.htm |archive-date=25 August 2012 }}</ref> Nikola Tesla's Archive consists of over 160,000 original documents and is included in UNESCO ].<ref>{{Cite news |title=Nikola Tesla's Archive |url=https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world/nikola-teslas-archive |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241203015718/https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world/nikola-teslas-archive |archive-date=2024-12-03 |access-date=2024-12-24 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Archive – Nikola Tesla Museum |url=https://tesla-museum.org/en/legacy/archive/ |access-date=2024-12-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> | |||
Tesla obtained around 300 patents worldwide for his inventions.<ref name="sarboh">{{cite web |url=http://www.tesla-symp06.org/papers/Tesla-Symp06_Sarboh.pdf |title=Nikola Tesla's Patents |first=Snežana |last=Šarboh |date=18–20 October 2006 |work=Sixth International Symposium Nikola Tesla |location=Belgrade, Serbia |page=6 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071030134331/http://www.tesla-symp06.org/papers/Tesla-Symp06_Sarboh.pdf |archive-date=30 October 2007 |access-date=8 October 2010 |ref=sarbo}}</ref> Some of Tesla's patents are not accounted for, and various sources have discovered some that have lain hidden in patent archives. There are a minimum of 278 known patents<ref name="sarboh" /> issued to Tesla in 26 countries. Many of Tesla's patents were in the United States, ], and Canada, but many other patents were approved in countries around the globe.{{sfn|Cheney|2001|p=62}} Many inventions developed by Tesla were not put into patent protection.{{Cn|date=October 2024}} | |||
== See also == | |||
* {{annotated link|Atmospheric electricity}} | |||
* {{annotated link|Michael Faraday}} | |||
* {{annotated link|Charles Proteus Steinmetz}} | |||
* {{annotated link|Telluric current}} | |||
== Notes == | |||
'''Footnotes''' | |||
{{Notelist}} | |||
'''Citations''' | |||
;''Stationary and scalar waves'' | |||
{{Reflist}} | |||
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "''Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves''". 1994. | |||
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "''Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors''". 1994. | |||
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, "''Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction''". Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff. | |||
== References == | |||
;''Radio waves'' | |||
{{Refbegin|30em}} | |||
* Anderson, L. I., "''John Stone Stone on Nikola Tesla’s Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus''". The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18–41. | |||
* {{cite book |last=Burgan |first=Michael |title=Nikola Tesla: Inventor, Electrical Engineer |year=2009 |publisher=] |location=Mankato, Minnesota |isbn=978-0-7565-4086-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PW06qF-dj2IC }} | |||
* Anderson, L. I., "''Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi''". Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980. | |||
* {{cite book|last=Carlson|first=W. Bernard|title=Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5I5c9j8BEn4C|year=2013|publisher=]|isbn=978-1-4008-4655-9|access-date=2 June 2015|archive-date=5 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230805044626/https://books.google.com/books?id=5I5c9j8BEn4C|url-status=live}} | |||
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, "''Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation''". Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pg., 327–331 vol.1) ISBN 0-7803-7228-X | |||
* {{cite book|last=Cheney|first=Margaret|title=Tesla: Man Out of Time|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HIuK7iLO9zgC|year=2011|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=978-1-4516-7486-6|access-date=13 December 2015|archive-date=23 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240323124618/https://books.google.com/books?id=HIuK7iLO9zgC|url-status=live}} | |||
* Page, R.M., "''The Early History of Radar''", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue). | |||
* {{cite book |last=Cheney |first=Margaret |title=Tesla: Man Out of Time |orig-year=1981 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ti2Jt7XarzMC |year=2001 |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-7432-1536-7 |access-date=14 May 2020 |archive-date=23 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240323124620/https://books.google.com/books?id=ti2Jt7XarzMC |url-status=live }} | |||
* {{cite book |last1=Cheney |first1=Margaret |last2=Uth |first2=Robert |last3=Glenn |first3=Jim |title=Tesla, Master of Lightning |year=1999 |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-7607-1005-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3W6_h6XG6VAC |access-date=21 June 2015 |archive-date=23 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240323124632/https://books.google.com/books?id=3W6_h6XG6VAC |url-status=live }} | |||
* {{cite book |last1=Cooper |first1=Christopher |title=The truth about Tesla : the myth of the lone genius in the history of innovation |date=2015 |location=New York |isbn=978-1-63106-030-4 |publisher=Race Point Publishing}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Dommermuth-Costa|first=Carol|title=Nikola Tesla: A Spark of Genius|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kFFWipanqsoC|year=1994|publisher=]|isbn=978-0-8225-4920-8|access-date=13 December 2015|archive-date=23 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240323125136/https://books.google.com/books?id=kFFWipanqsoC|url-status=live}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Jonnes |first=Jill |title=Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World |year=2004 |publisher=] Trade Paperbacks |isbn=978-0-375-75884-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BKX5UYWzVyQC |access-date=13 December 2015 |archive-date=23 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240323125210/https://books.google.com/books?id=BKX5UYWzVyQC |url-status=live }} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Klooster|first=John W.|title=Icons of Invention: The Makers of the Modern World from Gutenberg to Gates|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WKuG-VIwID8C|year=2009|publisher=]|isbn=978-0-313-34743-6|access-date=13 December 2015|archive-date=23 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240323125138/https://books.google.com/books?id=WKuG-VIwID8C|url-status=live}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=O'Neill |first=John J. | authorlink = John Joseph O'Neill (journalist) |title=Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla |year=1944 |publisher=Ives Washburn |location=New York |isbn=0-914732-33-1 |url=https://www.rastko.rs/istorija/tesla/oniell-tesla.html |access-date=10 July 2024 |archive-date=3 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231203084239/https://www.rastko.rs/istorija/tesla/oniell-tesla.html |url-status=live }} (see also '']''; also {{ISBN|1-59605-713-0}}; reprinted 2007 by Book Tree, {{ISBN|978-1-60206-743-1}}) | |||
* {{cite book |last=Pickover |first=Clifford A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P0CSxB2aHMcC |title=Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives Of Eccentric Scientists And Madmen |publisher=] |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-688-16894-0 |access-date=13 December 2015 |archive-date=23 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240323125210/https://books.google.com/books?id=P0CSxB2aHMcC |url-status=live }} | |||
* {{cite book|last1=Petešić|first1=Ćiril|title=Genij s našeg kamenjara: život i djelo Nikole Tesle|trans-title=The genius from our rocks: life and work of Nikola Tesla|year=1976|publisher=Školske novine|location=Zagreb|language=hr|oclc=36439558}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Seifer |first=Marc J. |title=Wizard: the life and times of Nikola Tesla: biography of a genius |year=2001 |publisher=Citadel |isbn=978-0-8065-1960-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h2DTNDFcC14C |access-date=13 December 2015 |archive-date=23 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240323125147/https://books.google.com/books?id=h2DTNDFcC14C |url-status=live }} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Seifer|first=Marc J.|title=Wizard: The Life And Times Of Nikola Tesla|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DzMR8x_rbPgC|year=1998|publisher=Citadel|isbn=978-0-8065-3556-2|access-date=16 March 2016|archive-date=23 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240323125351/https://books.google.ro/books?id=DzMR8x_rbPgC&redir_esc=y|url-status=live}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Van Riper |first=A. Bowdoin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ABtJPIcVtBoC |title=A Biographical Encyclopedia of Scientists and Inventors in American Film and TV since 1930 |year=2011 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-8128-0 }} | |||
* {{cite book | title = Nikola Tesla and the Graz Tech | editor-first1 = Uwe | editor-last1 = Schichler | editor-first2 = Josef W. | editor-last2 = Wohinz | first = Josef W. | last = Wohinz | chapter = Nikola Tesla: Milestones in his life | publisher = Graz University of Technology/Library and Archive | year = 2019 | doi = 10.3217/978-3-85125-687-1 | volume = 7 EN | isbn = 978-3-85125-688-8 }} | |||
{{Refend}} | |||
== Further reading == | |||
;''Induction motor'' | |||
{{Library resources box|by=yes}} | |||
* C Mackechnie Jarvis "''Nikola Tesla and the induction motor''". 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280–287. | |||
'''Books''' | |||
{{Refbegin}} | |||
* "''''" (DOC) | |||
<!--Keep in alphabetical order by author's surname --> | |||
* Nichelson, Oliver, "''Nikola Tesla's Energy Generation Designs''", Eyring, Inc., Provo, Utah. | |||
* Tesla, Nikola, ''],'' Parts I through V published in the ''Electrical Experimenter'' monthly magazine from February through June 1919. Part VI published October 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble, 1982; also online at '' {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160202014045/http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/96jul/teslaauto01.html |date=2 February 2016 }}, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160126224720/http://www.tfcbooks.com/special/mi_link.htm |date=26 January 2016 }} as ]'', 1919. {{ISBN|978-0-910077-00-2}} | |||
* Nichelson, Oliver, "''The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator''". American Fork, Utah. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63) | |||
* Carlson, W. Bernard (2013). ''Tesla, Inventor of the Electrical Age''. Princeton University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-6910-5776-7}} | |||
* ], "''''". | |||
* Glenn, Jim (1994). ''The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla''. {{ISBN|978-1-56619-266-8}} | |||
* ] (1999). '']: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity''. London: Headline. {{ISBN|978-0-7472-7588-6}} | |||
* ] (1894, 1996 reprint, copyright expired), '']'', includes some lectures, Montana: Kessinger. {{ISBN|978-1-56459-711-3}} | |||
* McNichol, Tom (2006). ''AC/DC The Savage Tale of the First Standards War'', Jossey-Bass. {{ISBN|978-0-7879-8267-6}} | |||
* {{cite book |last1=Peat |first1=F. David|author-link1=F. David Peat |title=] |date=2002 |publisher=Ashgrove |location=Bath |isbn=978-1-85398-117-3 |edition=Revised}} | |||
* Trinkaus, George (2002). ''Tesla: The Lost Inventions'', High Voltage Press. {{ISBN|978-0-9709618-2-2}} | |||
* Valone, Thomas (2002). ''Harnessing the Wheelwork of Nature: Tesla's Science of Energy''. {{ISBN|978-1-931882-04-0}} | |||
{{Refend}} | |||
'''Publications''' | |||
==External articles and resources== | |||
{{ |
{{Refbegin|40em}} | ||
* '']'', American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888. | |||
{{Wikibooks|Biography of Nikola Tesla}} | |||
* '''', Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888–1940. | |||
{{Wikiquote|Nikola Tesla}} | |||
* '' {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220316114143/http://collections.library.cornell.edu/moa_new/browse.html?frames=1&coll=moa&view=50&root=%2Fmoa%2Fmanu%2Fmanu0024%2F&tif=00119.TIF&cite=http%3A%2F%2Fcdl.library.cornell.edu%2Fcgi-bin%2Fmoa%2Fmoa-cgi%3Fnotisid%3DABS1821-0024-287 |date=16 March 2022 }}'', The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24 | |||
<div class="infobox sisterproject">] | |||
* Biography: '' {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060509050052/http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?frames=1&coll=moa&view=50&root=%2Fmoa%2Fcent%2Fcent0047%2F&tif=00592.TIF&cite=http%3A%2F%2Fcdl.library.cornell.edu%2Fcgi-bin%2Fmoa%2Fmoa-cgi%3Fnotisid%3DABP2287-0047-151 |date=9 May 2006 }}'', The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47 | |||
<div style="margin-left: 60px;">] has original text related to this article: | |||
* '' {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060509050030/http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?frames=1&coll=moa&view=50&root=%2Fmoa%2Fcent%2Fcent0049%2F&tif=00924.TIF&cite=http%3A%2F%2Fcdl.library.cornell.edu%2Fcgi-bin%2Fmoa%2Fmoa-cgi%3Fnotisid%3DABP2287-0049-178 |date=9 May 2006 }}'', The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49 | |||
<div style="margin-left: 10px;">''''']'''''</div> | |||
* '' {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220316114143/http://collections.library.cornell.edu/moa_new/browse.html?frames=1&coll=moa&view=50&root=%2Fmoa%2Fcent%2Fcent0055%2F&tif=00879.TIF&cite=http%3A%2F%2Fcdl.library.cornell.edu%2Fcgi-bin%2Fmoa%2Fmoa-cgi%3Fnotisid%3DABP2287-0055-194 |date=16 March 2022 }}'', The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55 | |||
</div> | |||
{{Refend}} | |||
</div> | |||
{{sisterlinks|Nikola Tesla}} | |||
''History and family'' | |||
* | |||
* | |||
* - The Genius Who Lit the World "''''". | |||
* , by Wolfsram Research | |||
* , Plasma Sphere wo-glass, Plasma Sphere HV supplies, Coil plans, instructions, High voltage projects. | |||
* Mr. Terbo lives in New Jersey, USA. | |||
* - ''Glas Javnosti'' interview with 16-year old Tesla's descendant, Serbian refugee from Croatia (in Serbian) | |||
* ] ] - about Tesla's Croatian homeland and Serbian parents (newspaper ''Jutarnji list'')]- text is on Croatian language. | |||
* Wagner, John W., "''''". | |||
* Vujovic, Ljubo, "''''", New York, USA. | |||
* "''''". Shoreham, New York. (Aims to reuse ].) | |||
*"''''". Serb National Federation. | |||
* Kosanovic, Bogdan R., "''''". December 29, 2000. | |||
* Mrkich, D., "''''", Serb National Federation. | |||
''Patents'' | |||
* Pepe, "''''", 2004-12-25. | |||
** (Hungarian - original images of text) | |||
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned (PDFs) | |||
* Jim Bieberich's | |||
'' |
'''Journals''' | ||
{{Refbegin|40em}} | |||
* Science Friday, "''''", ], ] | |||
* {{cite journal|last=Pavićević |first=Aleksandra|title=From lighting to dust death, funeral and post mortem destiny of Nikola Tesla|journal=Glasnik Etnografskog instituta SANU|year=2014|volume=62|issue=2|pages=125–139|url=http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/ft.aspx?id=0350-08611402125P|doi=10.2298/GEI1402125P|doi-access=free|hdl=21.15107/rcub_dais_8218|hdl-access=free| issn = 0350-0861 }} | |||
* Science Friday, "''''", ], ] | |||
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". '']'', March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7). | |||
* Ockhams Razor, "''''" | |||
* Jatras, Stella L., " {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111230152239/http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+genius+of+Nikola+Tesla-a0107043721 |date=30 December 2011 }}". '']'', 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1) | |||
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". '']'', March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6. | |||
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". '']'', 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11. | |||
* Thibault, Ghislain, "The Automatization of Nikola Tesla: Thinking Invention in the Late Nineteenth Century". '' {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180328103312/https://muse.jhu.edu/article/519919 |date=28 March 2018 }}'', Volume 21, Number 1, Winter 2013, pp. 27–52. | |||
* ], "The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla", New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 | |||
* ], , ''Resonance'', March 2007. | |||
* Roguin, Ariel, "Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit". J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369–374. 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc. | |||
* Sellon, J. L., "The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry". Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125–133. | |||
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., "Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten?" Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74–75. | |||
* Secor, H. Winfield, "Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4 August 1917. | |||
* Florey, Glen, "Tesla and the Military". ''Engineering'' 24, 5 December 2000. | |||
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, ''Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves''. 1994. | |||
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, ''Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors''. 1994. | |||
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, ''Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction''. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff. | |||
* Anderson, L. I., "John Stone Stone on Nikola Tesla's Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus". ], Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18–41. | |||
* Anderson, L. I., "Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi". Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980. | |||
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, "Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation". Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327–331 vol.1) | |||
{{Refend}} | |||
'' |
'''Video''' | ||
{{Refbegin|40em}} | |||
* | |||
<!-- This list is for videos used as factual references for the article, or for further study. The list is not for speculation about possible future documentaries. Properly sourced pop culture references should be added to the article 'Nikola Tesla in popular culture' --> | |||
* | |||
* {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417094842/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0273375/ |date=17 April 2019 }} – 1977 ten-episode TV series featuring ] as Tesla. | |||
* , from . | |||
* {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180805211353/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079985/ |date=5 August 2018 }}' – 1980 Documentary directed by ], featuring ] as Tesla and ] as ] | |||
* : Tells more about Tesla and Edison. | |||
* {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170919070828/https://www.pbs.org/tesla/ |date=19 September 2017 }} – 2003 Documentary by Robert Uth, featuring ] as the voice of Tesla. | |||
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, , Wired Magazine, October 1998. | |||
* '']'' – a 2016 documentary film by ] presented on the '']'' series. | |||
* Palmer, Stephen E., "''''". | |||
* '']'' – a 2020 biographical film by ] presented at the ]. | |||
* {{gutenberg author| id=Nikola+Tesla | name=Nikola Tesla}} | |||
{{Refend}} | |||
* : a play created by Rude Mechanicals in Austin, Texas 2001, 2003 | |||
* | |||
* by Nikola Tesla | |||
*, 1891–1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources. | |||
* (celebrating Tesla's 150th birthday) | |||
* (Best collection of texts about Tesla on Serbian language) | |||
== External links == | |||
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{{Spoken Misplaced Pages|date=19 June 2021|En-Nikola Tesla 1of2-article.ogg|En-Nikola Tesla 2of2-article.ogg}} | |||
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* | |||
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* {{cite journal|author=FBI|title=Nikola Tesla|journal=Main Investigative File|publisher=FBI|url=http://www.lostartsmedia.com/images/teslafbifile.pdf}} | |||
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* | |||
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* {{Gutenberg author |id=5067| name=Nikola Tesla}} | |||
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* - Amanda Gefter | |||
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Revision as of 02:21, 24 December 2024
Serbian-American engineer and inventor (1856–1943) For other uses, see Nikola Tesla (disambiguation).
Nikola Tesla | |
---|---|
Никола Тесла | |
Tesla, c. 1890 | |
Born | (1856-07-10)10 July 1856 Smiljan, Austrian Empire (now Croatia) |
Died | 7 January 1943(1943-01-07) (aged 86) New York City, U.S. |
Resting place | Nikola Tesla Museum, Belgrade, Serbia |
Citizenship | Austria (1856–1891) United States (1891–1943) |
Alma mater | Graz University of Technology (dropped out) |
Occupations |
|
Awards |
|
Engineering career | |
Discipline | |
Projects | Wireless power transfer |
Significant design | Induction motor |
Significant advance | Polyphase electric power |
Awards |
|
Signature | |
Nikola Tesla (/ˈnɪkələˈtɛslə/; Serbian Cyrillic: Никола Тесла, [nǐkola têsla]; 10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) was a Serbian-American engineer, futurist, and inventor. He is known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system.
Born and raised in the Austrian Empire, Tesla first studied engineering and physics in the 1870s without receiving a degree. He then gained practical experience in the early 1880s working in telephony and at Continental Edison in the new electric power industry. In 1884 he immigrated to the United States, where he became a naturalized citizen. He worked for a short time at the Edison Machine Works in New York City before he struck out on his own. With the help of partners to finance and market his ideas, Tesla set up laboratories and companies in New York to develop a range of electrical and mechanical devices. His AC induction motor and related polyphase AC patents, licensed by Westinghouse Electric in 1888, earned him a considerable amount of money and became the cornerstone of the polyphase system which that company eventually marketed.
Attempting to develop inventions he could patent and market, Tesla conducted a range of experiments with mechanical oscillators/generators, electrical discharge tubes, and early X-ray imaging. He also built a wirelessly controlled boat, one of the first ever exhibited. Tesla became well known as an inventor and demonstrated his achievements to celebrities and wealthy patrons at his lab, and was noted for his showmanship at public lectures. Throughout the 1890s, Tesla pursued his ideas for wireless lighting and worldwide wireless electric power distribution in his high-voltage, high-frequency power experiments in New York and Colorado Springs. In 1893, he made pronouncements on the possibility of wireless communication with his devices. Tesla tried to put these ideas to practical use in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project, an intercontinental wireless communication and power transmitter, but ran out of funding before he could complete it.
After Wardenclyffe, Tesla experimented with a series of inventions in the 1910s and 1920s with varying degrees of success. Having spent most of his money, Tesla lived in a series of New York hotels, leaving behind unpaid bills. He died in New York City in January 1943. Tesla's work fell into relative obscurity following his death, until 1960, when the General Conference on Weights and Measures named the International System of Units (SI) measurement of magnetic flux density the tesla in his honor. There has been a resurgence in popular interest in Tesla since the 1990s.
Early years
Nikola Tesla was born into an ethnic Serb family in the village of Smiljan, within the Military Frontier, in the Austrian Empire (present-day Croatia), on 10 July 1856. His father, Milutin Tesla (1819–1879), was a priest of the Eastern Orthodox Church. His father's brother Josif was a lecturer at a military academy who wrote several textbooks on mathematics.
Tesla's mother, Georgina "Đuka" Mandić (1822–1892), whose father was also an Eastern Orthodox Church priest, had a talent for making home craft tools and mechanical appliances and the ability to memorize Serbian epic poems. Đuka had never received a formal education. Tesla credited his eidetic memory and creative abilities to his mother's genetics and influence.
Tesla was the fourth of five children. He had three sisters, Milka, Angelina, and Marica, and an older brother named Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Tesla was aged six or seven. In 1861, Tesla attended primary school in Smiljan where he studied German, arithmetic, and religion. In 1862, the Tesla family moved to the nearby town of Gospić, where Tesla's father worked as parish priest. Nikola completed primary school, followed by middle school. In 1870, Tesla moved to Karlovac to attend high school at the Higher Real Gymnasium where the classes were held in German, as it was usual throughout schools within the Austro-Hungarian Military Frontier. Later in his patent applications, before he obtained American citizenship, Tesla would identify himself as 'of Smiljan, Lika, border country of Austria-Hungary'.
Tesla later wrote that he became interested in demonstrations of electricity by his physics professor. Tesla noted that these demonstrations of this "mysterious phenomena" made him want "to know more of this wonderful force". Tesla was able to perform integral calculus in his head, which prompted his teachers to believe that he was cheating. He finished a four-year term in three years, graduating in 1873.
After graduating Tesla returned to Smiljan but soon contracted cholera, was bedridden for nine months and was near death multiple times. In a moment of despair, Tesla's father (who had originally wanted him to enter the priesthood), promised to send him to the best engineering school if he recovered from the illness. Tesla later said that he had read Mark Twain's earlier works while recovering from his illness.
The next year Tesla evaded conscription into the Austro-Hungarian Army in Smiljan by running away southeast of Lika to Tomingaj, near Gračac. There he explored the mountains wearing hunter's garb. Tesla said that this contact with nature made him stronger, both physically and mentally. He enrolled at the Imperial-Royal Technical College in Graz in 1875 on a Military Frontier scholarship. Tesla passed nine exams (nearly twice as many as required) and received a letter of commendation from the dean of the technical faculty to his father, which stated, "Your son is a star of first rank." At Graz, Tesla noted his fascination with the detailed lectures on electricity presented by Professor Jakob Pöschl and described how he made suggestions on improving the design of an electric motor the professor was demonstrating. But by his third year he was failing in school and never graduated, leaving Graz in December 1878. One biographer suggests Tesla was not studying and may have been expelled for gambling and womanizing.
Tesla's family did not hear from him after he left school. There was a rumor among his classmates that he had drowned in the nearby river Mur but in January one of them ran into Tesla in the town of Maribor and reported that encounter to Tesla's family. It turned out Tesla had been working there as a draftsman for 60 florins per month. In March 1879, Milutin finally located his son and tried to convince him to return home and take up his education in Prague. Tesla returned to Gospić later that month when he was deported for not having a residence permit. Tesla's father died the next month, on 17 April 1879, at the age of 60 after an unspecified illness. During the rest of the year Tesla taught a large class of students in his old school in Gospić.
In January 1880, two of Tesla's uncles put together enough money to help him leave Gospić for Prague, where he was to study. He arrived too late to enroll at Charles-Ferdinand University; he had never studied Greek, a required subject; and he was illiterate in Czech, another required subject. Tesla did, however, attend lectures in philosophy at the university as an auditor but he did not receive grades for the courses.
Working at Budapest Telephone Exchange
Tesla moved to Budapest, Hungary, in 1881 to work under Tivadar Puskás at a telegraph company, the Budapest Telephone Exchange. Upon arrival, Tesla realized that the company, then under construction, was not functional, so he worked as a draftsman in the Central Telegraph Office instead. Within a few months, the Budapest Telephone Exchange became functional, and Tesla was allocated the chief electrician position. During his employment, Tesla made many improvements to the Central Station equipment and claimed to have perfected a telephone repeater or amplifier, which was never patented nor publicly described.
Working at Edison
In 1882, Tivadar Puskás got Tesla another job in Paris with the Continental Edison Company. Tesla began working in what was then a brand new industry, installing indoor incandescent lighting citywide in large scale electric power utility. The company had several subdivisions and Tesla worked at the Société Electrique Edison, the division in the Ivry-sur-Seine suburb of Paris in charge of installing the lighting system. There he gained a great deal of practical experience in electrical engineering. Management took notice of his advanced knowledge in engineering and physics and soon had him designing and building improved versions of generating dynamos and motors. They also sent him on to troubleshoot engineering problems at other Edison utilities being built around France and in Germany.
Moving to the United States
In 1884, Edison manager Charles Batchelor, who had been overseeing the Paris installation, was brought back to the United States to manage the Edison Machine Works, a manufacturing division situated in New York City, and asked that Tesla be brought to the United States as well. In June 1884, Tesla emigrated and began working almost immediately at the Machine Works on Manhattan's Lower East Side, an overcrowded shop with a workforce of several hundred machinists, laborers, managing staff, and 20 "field engineers" struggling with the task of building the large electric utility in that city. As in Paris, Tesla was working on troubleshooting installations and improving generators. Historian W. Bernard Carlson notes Tesla may have met company founder Thomas Edison only a couple of times. One of those times was noted in Tesla's autobiography where, after staying up all night repairing the damaged dynamos on the ocean liner SS Oregon, he ran into Batchelor and Edison, who made a quip about their "Parisian" being out all night. After Tesla told them he had been up all night fixing the Oregon, Edison commented to Batchelor that "this is a damned good man". One of the projects given to Tesla was to develop an arc lamp-based street lighting system. Arc lighting was the most popular type of street lighting but it required high voltages and was incompatible with the Edison low-voltage incandescent system, causing the company to lose contracts in some cities. Tesla's designs were never put into production, possibly because of technical improvements in incandescent street lighting or because of an installation deal that Edison made with an arc lighting company.
Tesla had been working at the Machine Works for a total of six months when he quit. What event precipitated his leaving is unclear. It may have been over a bonus he did not receive, either for redesigning generators or for the arc lighting system that was shelved. Tesla had previous run-ins with the Edison company over unpaid bonuses he believed he had earned. In his autobiography, Tesla stated the manager of the Edison Machine Works offered a $50,000 bonus to design "twenty-four different types of standard machines" "but it turned out to be a practical joke". Later versions of this story have Thomas Edison himself offering and then reneging on the deal, quipping "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor". The size of the bonus in either story has been noted as odd since Machine Works manager Batchelor was stingy with pay and the company did not have that amount of cash (equal to $1,695,556 today) on hand. Tesla's diary contains just one comment on what happened at the end of his employment, a note he scrawled across the two pages covering 7 December 1884, to 4 January 1885, saying "Good By to the Edison Machine Works".
Tesla Electric Light and Manufacturing
Soon after leaving the Edison company, Tesla was working on patenting an arc lighting system, possibly the same one he had developed at Edison. In March 1885, he met with patent attorney Lemuel W. Serrell, the same attorney used by Edison, to obtain help with submitting the patents. Serrell introduced Tesla to two businessmen, Robert Lane and Benjamin Vail, who agreed to finance an arc lighting manufacturing and utility company in Tesla's name, the Tesla Electric Light and Manufacturing Company. Tesla worked for the rest of the year obtaining the patents that included an improved DC generator, the first patents issued to Tesla in the US, and building and installing the system in Rahway, New Jersey. Tesla's new system gained notice in the technical press, which commented on its advanced features.
The investors showed little interest in Tesla's ideas for new types of alternating current motors and electrical transmission equipment. After the utility was up and running in 1886, they decided that the manufacturing side of the business was too competitive and opted to simply run an electric utility. They formed a new utility company, abandoning Tesla's company and leaving the inventor penniless. Tesla even lost control of the patents he had generated, since he had assigned them to the company in exchange for stock. He had to work at various electrical repair jobs and as a ditch digger for $2 per day. Later in life Tesla recounted that part of 1886 as a time of hardship, writing "My high education in various branches of science, mechanics and literature seemed to me like a mockery".
AC and the induction motor
In late 1886, Tesla met Alfred S. Brown, a Western Union superintendent, and New York attorney Charles Fletcher Peck. The two men were experienced in setting up companies and promoting inventions and patents for financial gain. Based on Tesla's new ideas for electrical equipment, including a thermo-magnetic motor idea, they agreed to back the inventor financially and handle his patents. Together they formed the Tesla Electric Company in April 1887, with an agreement that profits from generated patents would go 1⁄3 to Tesla, 1⁄3 to Peck and Brown, and 1⁄3 to fund development. They set up a laboratory for Tesla at 89 Liberty Street in Manhattan, where he worked on improving and developing new types of electric motors, generators, and other devices.
In 1887, Tesla developed an induction motor that ran on alternating current (AC), a power system format that was rapidly expanding in Europe and the United States because of its advantages in long-distance, high-voltage transmission. The motor used polyphase current, which generated a rotating magnetic field to turn the motor (a principle that Tesla claimed to have conceived in 1882). This innovative electric motor, patented in May 1888, was a simple self-starting design that did not need a commutator, thus avoiding sparking and the high maintenance of constantly servicing and replacing mechanical brushes.
Along with getting the motor patented, Peck and Brown arranged to get the motor publicized, starting with independent testing to verify it was a functional improvement, followed by press releases sent to technical publications for articles to run concurrently with the issue of the patent. Physicist William Arnold Anthony (who tested the motor) and Electrical World magazine editor Thomas Commerford Martin arranged for Tesla to demonstrate his AC motor on 16 May 1888 at the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. Engineers working for the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company reported to George Westinghouse that Tesla had a viable AC motor and related power system—something Westinghouse needed for the alternating current system he was already marketing. Westinghouse looked into getting a patent on a similar commutator-less, rotating magnetic field-based induction motor developed in 1885 and presented in a paper in March 1888 by Italian physicist Galileo Ferraris, but decided that Tesla's patent would probably control the market.
In July 1888, Brown and Peck negotiated a licensing deal with George Westinghouse for Tesla's polyphase induction motor and transformer designs for $60,000 in cash and stock and a royalty of $2.50 per AC horsepower produced by each motor. Westinghouse also hired Tesla for one year for the large fee of $2,000 ($67,800 in today's dollars) per month to be a consultant at the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs.
During that year, Tesla worked in Pittsburgh, helping to create an alternating current system to power the city's streetcars. He found it a frustrating period because of conflicts with the other Westinghouse engineers over how best to implement AC power. Between them, they settled on a 60-cycle AC system that Tesla proposed (to match the working frequency of Tesla's motor), but they soon found that it would not work for streetcars, since Tesla's induction motor could run only at a constant speed. They ended up using a DC traction motor instead.
Market turmoil
Tesla's demonstration of his induction motor and Westinghouse's subsequent licensing of the patent, both in 1888, came at the time of extreme competition between electric companies. The three big firms, Westinghouse, Edison, and Thomson-Houston Electric Company, were trying to grow in a capital-intensive business while financially undercutting each other. There was even a "war of currents" propaganda campaign going on, with Edison Electric claiming their direct current system was better and safer than the Westinghouse alternating current system and Thomson-Houston sometimes siding with Edison. Competing in this market meant Westinghouse would not have the cash or engineering resources to develop Tesla's motor and the related polyphase system right away.
Two years after signing the Tesla contract, Westinghouse Electric was in trouble. The near collapse of Barings Bank in London triggered the financial panic of 1890, causing investors to call in their loans to Westinghouse Electric. The sudden cash shortage forced the company to refinance its debts. The new lenders demanded that Westinghouse cut back on what looked like excessive spending on acquisition of other companies, research, and patents, including the per motor royalty in the Tesla contract. At that point, the Tesla induction motor had been unsuccessful and was stuck in development. Westinghouse was paying a $15,000-a-year guaranteed royalty even though operating examples of the motor were rare and polyphase power systems needed to run it were even rarer. In early 1891, George Westinghouse explained his financial difficulties to Tesla in stark terms, saying that, if he did not meet the demands of his lenders, he would no longer be in control of Westinghouse Electric and Tesla would have to "deal with the bankers" to try to collect future royalties. The advantages of having Westinghouse continue to champion the motor probably seemed obvious to Tesla and he agreed to release the company from the royalty payment clause in the contract. Six years later Westinghouse purchased Tesla's patent for a lump sum payment of $216,000 as part of a patent-sharing agreement signed with General Electric (a company created from the 1892 merger of Edison and Thomson-Houston).
New York laboratories
The money Tesla made from licensing his AC patents made him independently wealthy and gave him the time and funds to pursue his own interests. In 1889, Tesla moved out of the Liberty Street shop Peck and Brown had rented and for the next dozen years worked out of a series of workshop/laboratory spaces in Manhattan. These included a lab at 175 Grand Street (1889–1892), the fourth floor of 33–35 South Fifth Avenue (1892–1895), and sixth and seventh floors of 46 & 48 East Houston Street (1895–1902). Tesla and his hired staff conducted some of his most significant work in these workshops.
Tesla coil
Main article: Tesla coilIn the summer of 1889, Tesla traveled to the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris and learned of Heinrich Hertz's 1886–1888 experiments that proved the existence of electromagnetic radiation, including radio waves. In repeating and then expanding on these experiments Tesla tried powering a Ruhmkorff coil with a high speed alternator he had been developing as part of an improved arc lighting system but found that the high-frequency current overheated the iron core and melted the insulation between the primary and secondary windings in the coil. To fix this problem Tesla came up with his "oscillating transformer", with an air gap instead of insulating material between the primary and secondary windings and an iron core that could be moved to different positions in or out of the coil. Later called the Tesla coil, it would be used to produce high-voltage, low-current, high frequency alternating-current electricity. He would use this resonant transformer circuit in his later wireless power work.
Citizenship
On 30 July 1891, aged 35, Tesla became a naturalized citizen of the United States. In the same year, he patented his Tesla coil.
Wireless lighting
After 1890, Tesla experimented with transmitting power by inductive and capacitive coupling using high AC voltages generated with his Tesla coil. He attempted to develop a wireless lighting system based on near-field inductive and capacitive coupling and conducted a series of public demonstrations where he lit Geissler tubes and even incandescent light bulbs from across a stage. He spent most of the decade working on variations of this new form of lighting with the help of various investors but none of the ventures succeeded in making a commercial product out of his findings.
In 1893 at St. Louis, Missouri, the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, Tesla told onlookers that he was sure a system like his could eventually conduct "intelligible signals or perhaps even power to any distance without the use of wires" by conducting it through the Earth.
Tesla served as a vice-president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers from 1892 to 1894, the forerunner of the modern-day IEEE (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers).
Polyphase system and the Columbian Exposition
By the beginning of 1893, Westinghouse engineer Charles F. Scott and then Benjamin G. Lamme had made progress on an efficient version of Tesla's induction motor. Lamme found a way to make the polyphase system it would need compatible with older single-phase AC and DC systems by developing a rotary converter. Westinghouse Electric now had a way to provide electricity to all potential customers and started branding their polyphase AC system as the "Tesla Polyphase System". They believed that Tesla's patents gave them patent priority over other polyphase AC systems.
Westinghouse Electric asked Tesla to participate in the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago where the company had a large space in the "Electricity Building" devoted to electrical exhibits. Westinghouse Electric won the bid to light the Exposition with alternating current and it was a key event in the history of AC power, as the company demonstrated to the American public the safety, reliability, and efficiency of an alternating current system that was polyphase and could also supply the other AC and DC exhibits at the fair.
A special exhibit space was set up to display various forms and models of Tesla's induction motor. The rotating magnetic field that drove them was explained through a series of demonstrations including an Egg of Columbus that used the two-phase coil found in an induction motor to spin a copper egg making it stand on end.
Tesla visited the fair for a week during its six-month run to attend the International Electrical Congress and put on a series of demonstrations at the Westinghouse exhibit. A specially darkened room had been set up where Tesla showed his wireless lighting system, using a demonstration he had previously performed throughout America and Europe; these included using high-voltage, high-frequency alternating current to light wireless gas-discharge lamps.
An observer noted:
Within the room were suspended two hard-rubber plates covered with tin foil. These were about fifteen feet apart and served as terminals of the wires leading from the transformers. When the current was turned on, the lamps or tubes, which had no wires connected to them, but lay on a table between the suspended plates, or which might be held in the hand in almost any part of the room, were made luminous. These were the same experiments and the same apparatus shown by Tesla in London about two years previous, "where they produced so much wonder and astonishment".
Steam-powered oscillating generator
Main article: Tesla's oscillatorDuring his presentation at the International Electrical Congress in the Columbian Exposition Agriculture Hall, Tesla introduced his steam powered reciprocating electricity generator that he patented that year, something he thought was a better way to generate alternating current. Steam was forced into the oscillator and rushed out through a series of ports, pushing a piston up and down that was attached to an armature. The magnetic armature vibrated up and down at high speed, producing an alternating magnetic field. This induced alternating electric current in the wire coils located adjacent. It did away with the complicated parts of a steam engine/generator, but never caught on as a feasible engineering solution to generate electricity.
Consulting on Niagara
In 1893, Edward Dean Adams, who headed the Niagara Falls Cataract Construction Company, sought Tesla's opinion on what system would be best to transmit power generated at the falls. Over several years, there had been a series of proposals and open competitions on how best to do it. Among the systems proposed by several US and European companies were two-phase and three-phase AC, high-voltage DC, and compressed air. Adams asked Tesla for information about the current state of all the competing systems. Tesla advised Adams that a two-phased system would be the most reliable and that there was a Westinghouse system to light incandescent bulbs using two-phase alternating current. The company awarded a contract to Westinghouse Electric for building a two-phase AC generating system at the Niagara Falls, based on Tesla's advice and Westinghouse's demonstration at the Columbian Exposition. At the same time, a further contract was awarded to General Electric to build the AC distribution system.
The Nikola Tesla Company
In 1895, Edward Dean Adams, impressed with what he saw when he toured Tesla's lab, agreed to help found the Nikola Tesla Company, set up to fund, develop, and market a variety of previous Tesla patents and inventions as well as new ones. Alfred Brown signed on, bringing along patents developed under Peck and Brown. The board was filled out with William Birch Rankine and Charles F. Coaney. It found few investors since the mid-1890s were a tough time financially, and the wireless lighting and oscillators patents it was set up to market never panned out. The company handled Tesla's patents for decades to come.
Lab fire
In the early morning hours of 13 March 1895, the South Fifth Avenue building that housed Tesla's lab caught fire. It started in the basement of the building and was so intense Tesla's 4th-floor lab burned and collapsed into the second floor. The fire not only set back Tesla's ongoing projects, but it also destroyed a collection of early notes and research material, models, and demonstration pieces, including many that had been exhibited at the 1893 Worlds Colombian Exposition. Tesla told The New York Times "I am in too much grief to talk. What can I say?". After the fire Tesla moved to 46 & 48 East Houston Street and rebuilt his lab on the 6th and 7th floors.
X-ray experimentation
Starting in 1894, Tesla began investigating what he referred to as radiant energy of "invisible" kinds after he had noticed damaged film in his laboratory in previous experiments (later identified as "Roentgen rays" or "X-rays"). His early experiments were with Crookes tubes, a cold cathode electrical discharge tube. Tesla may have inadvertently captured an X-ray image—predating, by a few weeks, Wilhelm Röntgen's December 1895 announcement of the discovery of X-rays—when he tried to photograph Mark Twain illuminated by a Geissler tube, an earlier type of gas discharge tube. The only thing captured in the image was the metal locking screw on the camera lens.
In March 1896, after hearing of Röntgen's discovery of X-ray and X-ray imaging (radiography), Tesla proceeded to do his own experiments in X-ray imaging, developing a high-energy single-terminal vacuum tube of his own design that had no target electrode and that worked from the output of the Tesla coil (the modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung or braking radiation). In his research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X-rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will ... enable one to generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus".
Tesla noted the hazards of working with his circuit and single-node X-ray-producing devices. In his many notes on the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but by the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, by nitrous acid. Tesla incorrectly believed that X-rays were longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasmas. These plasma waves can occur in force-free magnetic fields.
On 11 July 1934, the New York Herald Tribune published an article on Tesla, in which he recalled an event that occasionally took place while experimenting with his single-electrode vacuum tubes. A minute particle would break off the cathode, pass out of the tube, and physically strike him:
Tesla said he could feel a sharp stinging pain where it entered his body, and again at the place where it passed out. In comparing these particles with the bits of metal projected by his "electric gun", Tesla said, "The particles in the beam of force ... will travel much faster than such particles ... and they will travel in concentrations".
Radio remote control
In 1898, Tesla demonstrated a boat that used a coherer-based radio control—which he dubbed "telautomaton"—to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla tried to sell his idea to the US military as a type of radio-controlled torpedo, but they showed little interest. Remote radio control remained a novelty until World War I and afterward, when a number of countries used it in military programs. Tesla took the opportunity to further demonstrate "Teleautomatics" in an address to a meeting of the Commercial Club in Chicago, while he was traveling to Colorado Springs, on 13 May 1899.
Wireless power
Further information: Wireless power transfer § TeslaFrom the 1890s through 1906, Tesla spent a great deal of his time and fortune on a series of projects trying to develop the transmission of electrical power without wires. It was an expansion of his idea of using coils to transmit power that he had been demonstrating in wireless lighting. He saw this as not only a way to transmit large amounts of power around the world but also, as he had pointed out in his earlier lectures, a way to transmit worldwide communications.
At the time Tesla was formulating his ideas, there was no feasible way to wirelessly transmit communication signals over long distances, let alone large amounts of power. Tesla had studied radio waves early on, and came to the conclusion that part of the existing study on them, by Hertz, was incorrect. Also, this new form of radiation was widely considered at the time to be a short-distance phenomenon that seemed to die out in less than a mile. Tesla noted that, even if theories on radio waves were true, they were totally worthless for his intended purposes since this form of "invisible light" would diminish over a distance just like any other radiation and would travel in straight lines right out into space, becoming "hopelessly lost".
By the mid-1890s, Tesla was working on the idea that he might be able to conduct electricity long distance through the Earth or the atmosphere, and began working on experiments to test this idea including setting up a large resonance transformer magnifying transmitter in his East Houston Street lab. Seeming to borrow from a common idea at the time that the Earth's atmosphere was conductive, he proposed a system composed of balloons suspending, transmitting, and receiving, electrodes in the air above 30,000 feet (9,100 m) in altitude, where he thought the lower pressure would allow him to send high voltages (millions of volts) long distances.
Colorado Springs
See also: Tesla Experimental Station; Magnifying transmitter; and Colorado Springs Notes, 1899–1900To further study the conductive nature of low-pressure air, Tesla set up an experimental station at high altitude in Colorado Springs during 1899. There he could safely operate much larger coils than in the cramped confines of his New York lab, and an associate had made an arrangement for the El Paso Electric Light Company to supply alternating current free of charge. To fund his experiments, he convinced John Jacob Astor IV to invest $100,000 ($3,662,400 in today's dollars) to become a majority shareholder in the Nikola Tesla Company. Astor thought he was primarily investing in the new wireless lighting system. Instead, Tesla used the money to fund his Colorado Springs experiments. Upon his arrival, he told reporters that he planned to conduct wireless telegraphy experiments, transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris.
There, he conducted experiments with a large coil operating in the megavolts range, producing artificial lightning (and thunder) consisting of millions of volts and discharges of up to 135 feet (41 m) in length, and, at one point, inadvertently burned out the generator in El Paso, causing a power outage. The observations he made of the electronic noise of lightning strikes led him to (incorrectly) conclude that he could use the entire globe of the Earth to conduct electrical energy.
During his time at his laboratory, Tesla observed unusual signals from his receiver which he speculated to be communications from another planet. He mentioned them in a letter to a reporter in December 1899 and to the Red Cross Society in December 1900. Reporters treated it as a sensational story and jumped to the conclusion Tesla was hearing signals from Mars. He expanded on the signals he heard in a 9 February 1901 Collier's Weekly article entitled "Talking With Planets", where he said it had not been immediately apparent to him that he was hearing "intelligently controlled signals" and that the signals could have come from Mars, Venus, or other planets. It has been hypothesized that he may have intercepted Guglielmo Marconi's European experiments in July 1899—Marconi may have transmitted the letter S (dot/dot/dot) in a naval demonstration, the same three impulses that Tesla hinted at hearing in Colorado—or signals from another experimenter in wireless transmission.
Tesla had an agreement with the editor of The Century Magazine to produce an article on his findings. The magazine sent a photographer to Colorado to photograph the work being done there. The article, titled "The Problem of Increasing Human Energy", appeared in the June 1900 edition of the magazine. He explained the superiority of the wireless system he envisioned but the article was more of a lengthy philosophical treatise than an understandable scientific description of his work, illustrated with what were to become iconic images of Tesla and his Colorado Springs experiments.
Wardenclyffe
Main article: Wardenclyffe TowerTesla made the rounds in New York trying to find investors for what he thought would be a viable system of wireless transmission, wining and dining them at the Waldorf-Astoria's Palm Garden (the hotel where he was living at the time), The Players Club, and Delmonico's. In March 1901, he obtained $150,000 ($5,493,600 in today's dollars) from J. P. Morgan in return for a 51% share of any generated wireless patents, and began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility to be built in Shoreham, New York, 100 miles (161 km) east of the city on the North Shore of Long Island.
By July 1901, Tesla had expanded his plans to build a more powerful transmitter to leap ahead of Marconi's radio-based system, which Tesla thought was a copy of his own. He approached Morgan to ask for more money to build the larger system, but Morgan refused to supply any further funds. In December 1901, Marconi successfully transmitted the letter S from England to Newfoundland, defeating Tesla in the race to be first to complete such a transmission. A month after Marconi's success, Tesla tried to get Morgan to back an even larger plan to transmit messages and power by controlling "vibrations throughout the globe". Over the next five years, Tesla wrote more than 50 letters to Morgan, pleading for and demanding additional funding to complete the construction of Wardenclyffe. Tesla continued the project for another nine months into 1902. The tower was erected to its full height of 187 feet (57 m). In June 1902, Tesla moved his lab operations from Houston Street to Wardenclyffe.
Investors on Wall Street were putting their money into Marconi's system, and some in the press began turning against Tesla's project, claiming it was a hoax. The project came to a halt in 1905, and in 1906, the financial problems and other events may have led to what Tesla biographer Marc J. Seifer suspects was a nervous breakdown on Tesla's part. Tesla mortgaged the Wardenclyffe property to cover his debts at the Waldorf-Astoria, which eventually amounted to $20,000 ($608,400 in today's dollars). He lost the property in foreclosure in 1915, and in 1917 the Tower was demolished by the new owner to make the land a more viable real estate asset.
Later years
After Wardenclyffe closed, Tesla continued to write to Morgan; after "the great man" died, Tesla wrote to Morgan's son Jack, trying to get further funding for the project. In 1906, Tesla opened offices at 165 Broadway in Manhattan, trying to raise further funds by developing and marketing his patents. He went on to have offices at the Metropolitan Life Tower from 1910 to 1914; rented for a few months at the Woolworth Building, moving out because he could not afford the rent; and then to office space at 8 West 40th Street from 1915 to 1925. After moving to 8 West 40th Street, he was effectively bankrupt. Most of his patents had run out and he was having trouble with the new inventions he was trying to develop.
Bladeless turbine
Main article: Tesla turbineOn his 50th birthday, in 1906, Tesla demonstrated a 200 horsepower (150 kilowatts) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910–1911, at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100–5,000 hp. Tesla worked with several companies including from 1919 to 1922 in Milwaukee, for Allis-Chalmers. He spent most of his time trying to perfect the Tesla turbine with Hans Dahlstrand, the head engineer at the company, but engineering difficulties meant it was never made into a practical device. Tesla did license the idea to a precision instrument company and it found use in the form of luxury car speedometers and other instruments.
Wireless lawsuits
When World War I broke out, the British cut the transatlantic telegraph cable linking the US to Germany in order to control the flow of information between the two countries. They also tried to shut off German wireless communication to and from the US by having the US Marconi Company sue the German radio company Telefunken for patent infringement. Telefunken brought in the physicists Jonathan Zenneck and Karl Ferdinand Braun for their defense, and hired Tesla as a witness for two years for $1,000 a month. The case stalled and then went moot when the US entered the war against Germany in 1917.
In 1915, Tesla attempted to sue the Marconi Company for infringement of his wireless tuning patents. Marconi's initial radio patent had been awarded in the US in 1897, but his 1900 patent submission covering improvements to radio transmission had been rejected several times, before it was finally approved in 1904, on the grounds that it infringed on other existing patents including two 1897 Tesla wireless power tuning patents. Tesla's 1915 case went nowhere, but in a related case, where the Marconi Company tried to sue the US government over WWI patent infringements, a Supreme Court of the United States 1943 decision restored the prior patents of Oliver Lodge, John Stone, and Tesla. The court declared that their decision had no bearing on Marconi's claim as the first to achieve radio transmission, just that since Marconi's claim to certain patented improvements were questionable, the company could not claim infringement on those same patents.
Nobel Prize rumors
On 6 November 1915, a Reuters news agency report from London had the 1915 Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla; however, on 15 November, a Reuters story from Stockholm stated the prize that year was being awarded to William Henry Bragg and Lawrence Bragg "for their services in the analysis of crystal structure by means of X-rays". There were unsubstantiated rumors at the time that either Tesla or Edison had refused the prize. The Nobel Foundation said, "Any rumor that a person has not been given a Nobel Prize because he has made known his intention to refuse the reward is ridiculous"; a recipient could decline a Nobel Prize only after he is announced a winner.
There have been subsequent claims by Tesla biographers that Edison and Tesla were the original recipients and that neither was given the award because of their animosity toward each other; that each sought to minimize the other's achievements and right to win the award; that both refused ever to accept the award if the other received it first; that both rejected any possibility of sharing it; and even that a wealthy Edison refused it to keep Tesla from getting the $20,000 prize money.
In the years after these rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won a Nobel prize (although Edison received one of 38 possible bids in 1915 and Tesla received one of 38 possible bids in 1937).
Other awards, patents and ideas
Tesla won numerous medals and awards over this time. They include:
- Grand Officer of the Order of St. Sava (Serbia, 1892)
- Elliott Cresson Medal (Franklin Institute, US, 1894)
- Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Danilo I (Montenegro, 1895)
- Member of the American Philosophical Society (US, 1896)
- AIEE Edison Medal (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, US, 1916)
- Grand Cross of the Order of St. Sava (Yugoslavia, 1926)
- Cross of the Order of the Yugoslav Crown (Yugoslavia, 1931)
- John Scott Medal (Franklin Institute & Philadelphia City Council, US, 1934)
- Order of the White Eagle (Yugoslavia, 1936)
- Grand Cross of the Order of the White Lion (Czechoslovakia, 1937)
- Medal of the University of Paris (Paris, France, 1937)
- The Medal of the University St. Clement of Ochrida (Sofia, Bulgaria, 1939)
Tesla attempted to market several devices based on the production of ozone. These included his 1900 Tesla Ozone Company selling an 1896 patented device based on his Tesla coil, used to bubble ozone through different types of oils to make a therapeutic gel. He also tried to develop a variation of this a few years later as a room sanitizer for hospitals.
Tesla theorized that the application of electricity to the brain enhanced intelligence. In 1912, he crafted "a plan to make dull students bright by saturating them unconsciously with electricity," wiring the walls of a schoolroom and, "saturating with infinitesimal electric waves vibrating at high frequency. The whole room will thus, Mr. Tesla claims, be converted into a health-giving and stimulating electromagnetic field or 'bath.'" The plan was, at least provisionally, approved by then superintendent of New York City schools, William H. Maxwell.
Before World War I, Tesla sought overseas investors. After the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries.
In the August 1917 edition of the magazine Electrical Experimenter, Tesla postulated that electricity could be used to locate submarines via using the reflection of an "electric ray" of "tremendous frequency," with the signal being viewed on a fluorescent screen (a system that has been noted to have a superficial resemblance to modern radar). Tesla was incorrect in his assumption that high-frequency radio waves would penetrate water. Émile Girardeau, who helped develop France's first radar system in the 1930s, noted in 1953 that Tesla's general speculation that a very strong high-frequency signal would be needed was correct. Girardeau said, "(Tesla) was prophesying or dreaming, since he had at his disposal no means of carrying them out, but one must add that if he was dreaming, at least he was dreaming correctly".
In 1928, Tesla received patent, U.S. patent 1,655,114, for a biplane design capable of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL), which "gradually tilted through manipulation of the elevator devices" in flight until it was flying like a conventional plane. This impractical design was something Tesla thought would sell for less than $1,000.
Tesla had a further office at 350 Madison Ave but by 1928 he no longer had a laboratory or funding.
Living circumstances
Tesla lived at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City from 1900 and ran up a large bill. He moved to the St. Regis Hotel in 1922 and followed a pattern from then on of moving to a different hotel every few years and leaving unpaid bills behind.
Tesla walked to the park every day to feed the pigeons. He began feeding them at the window of his hotel room and nursed injured birds back to health. He said that he had been visited by a certain injured white pigeon daily. He spent over $2,000 (equivalent to $36,410 in 2023) to care for the bird, including a device he built to support her comfortably while her broken wing and leg healed. Tesla stated:
I have been feeding pigeons, thousands of them for years. But there was one, a beautiful bird, pure white with light grey tips on its wings; that one was different. It was a female. I had only to wish and call her and she would come flying to me. I loved that pigeon as a man loves a woman, and she loved me. As long as I had her, there was a purpose to my life.
Tesla's unpaid bills, as well as complaints about the mess made by pigeons, led to his eviction from St. Regis in 1923. He was also forced to leave the Hotel Pennsylvania in 1930 and the Hotel Governor Clinton in 1934. At one point he also took rooms at the Hotel Marguery.
Tesla moved to the Hotel New Yorker in 1934. At this time Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company began paying him $125 (equivalent to $2,850 in 2023) per month in addition to paying his rent. Accounts of how this came about vary. Several sources claim that Westinghouse was concerned, or possibly warned, about potential bad publicity arising from the impoverished conditions in which their former star inventor was living. The payment has been described as being couched as a "consulting fee" to get around Tesla's aversion to accepting charity. Tesla biographer Marc Seifer described the Westinghouse payments as a type of "unspecified settlement".
Birthday press conferences
In 1931, a young journalist whom Tesla befriended, Kenneth M. Swezey, organized a celebration for the inventor's 75th birthday. Tesla received congratulations from figures in science and engineering such as Albert Einstein, and he was also featured on the cover of Time magazine. The cover caption "All the world's his power house" noted his contribution to electrical power generation. The party went so well that Tesla made it an annual event, an occasion where he would put out a large spread of food and drink—featuring dishes of his own creation. He invited the press in order to see his inventions and hear stories about his past exploits, views on current events, and sometimes baffling claims.
At the 1932 party, Tesla claimed he had invented a motor that would run on cosmic rays. In 1933, at age 77, Tesla told reporters at the event that, after 35 years of work, he was on the verge of producing proof of a new form of energy. He claimed it was a theory of energy that was "violently opposed" to Einsteinian physics and could be tapped with an apparatus that would be cheap to run and last 500 years. He also told reporters he was working on a way to transmit individualized private radio wavelengths, working on breakthroughs in metallurgy, and developing a way to photograph the retina to record thought.
At the 1934 occasion, Tesla told reporters he had designed a superweapon he claimed would end all war. He called it "teleforce", but was usually referred to as his death ray. In 1940, the New York Times gave a range for the ray of 250 miles (400 km), with an expected development cost of US$2 million (equivalent to $43.5 million in 2023). Tesla described it as a defensive weapon that would be put up along the border of a country and be used against attacking ground-based infantry or aircraft. Tesla never revealed detailed plans of how the weapon worked during his lifetime but, in 1984, they surfaced at the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. The treatise, The New Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media, described an open-ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allows particles to exit, a method of charging slugs of tungsten or mercury to millions of volts, and directing them in streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Tesla tried to attract interest of the US War Department, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia in the device.
In 1935, at his 79th birthday party, Tesla covered many topics. He claimed to have discovered the cosmic ray in 1896 and invented a way to produce direct current by induction, and made many claims about his mechanical oscillator. Describing the device (which he expected would earn him $100 million within two years) he told reporters that a version of his oscillator had caused an earthquake in his 46 East Houston Street lab and neighboring streets in Lower Manhattan in 1898. He went on to tell reporters his oscillator could destroy the Empire State Building with 5 pounds (2.3 kg) of air pressure. He also proposed using his oscillators to transmit vibrations into the ground. He claimed it would work over any distance and could be used for communication or locating underground mineral deposits, a technique he called "telegeodynamics".
In 1937, at his Grand Ballroom of Hotel New Yorker event, Tesla received the Order of the White Lion from the Czechoslovak ambassador and a medal from the Yugoslav ambassador. On questions concerning the death ray, Tesla stated: "But it is not an experiment ... I have built, demonstrated and used it. Only a little time will pass before I can give it to the world."
Death
In the fall of 1937 at the age of 81, after midnight one night, Tesla left the Hotel New Yorker to make his regular commute to the cathedral and library to feed the pigeons. While crossing a street a couple of blocks from the hotel, Tesla was struck by a moving taxicab and was thrown to the ground. His back was severely wrenched and three of his ribs were broken in the accident. The full extent of his injuries was never known; Tesla refused to consult a doctor, an almost lifelong custom, and never fully recovered.
On 7 January 1943, at the age of 86, Tesla died alone in Room 3327 of the Hotel New Yorker. His body was found by maid Alice Monaghan when she entered Tesla's room, ignoring the "do not disturb" sign that Tesla had placed on his door two days earlier. Assistant medical examiner H.W. Wembley examined the body and ruled that the cause of death had been coronary thrombosis (a type of heart attack).
Two days later the Federal Bureau of Investigation ordered the Alien Property Custodian to seize Tesla's belongings. John G. Trump, a professor at M.I.T. and a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee, was called in to analyze the Tesla items. After a three-day investigation, Trump's report concluded that there was nothing which would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands, stating:
His thoughts and efforts during at least the past 15 years were primarily of a speculative, philosophical, and somewhat promotional character often concerned with the production and wireless transmission of power; but did not include new, sound, workable principles or methods for realizing such results.
In a box purported to contain a part of Tesla's "death ray", Trump found a 45-year-old multidecade resistance box.
On 10 January 1943, New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia read a eulogy written by Slovene-American author Louis Adamic live over WNYC radio while violin pieces "Ave Maria" and "Tamo daleko" were played in the background. On 12 January, two thousand people attended a state funeral for Tesla at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan. After the funeral, Tesla's body was taken to the Ferncliff Cemetery in Ardsley, New York, where it was later cremated. The following day, a second service was conducted by prominent priests in the Trinity Chapel (today's Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of Saint Sava) in New York City.
Personal life and character
Tesla was a lifelong bachelor, who had once explained that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. In an interview with the Galveston Daily News on 10 August 1924 he stated, "Now the soft-voiced gentlewoman of my reverent worship has all but vanished. In her place has come the woman who thinks that her chief success in life lies in making herself as much as possible like man—in dress, voice and actions..." Although he told a reporter in later years that he sometimes felt that by not marrying, he had made too great a sacrifice to his work, Tesla chose to never pursue or engage in any known relationships, instead finding all the stimulation he needed in his work.
Tesla was asocial and prone to seclude himself with his work. However, when he did engage in social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of Tesla. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force". His secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul". Tesla's friend, Julian Hawthorne, wrote, "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink".
Tesla was a good friend of Francis Marion Crawford, Robert Underwood Johnson, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. In middle age, Tesla became a close friend of Mark Twain; they spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere. Twain notably described Tesla's induction motor invention as "the most valuable patent since the telephone". At a party thrown by actress Sarah Bernhardt in 1896, Tesla met Indian Hindu monk Swami Vivekananda. Vivekananda later wrote that Tesla said he could demonstrate mathematically the relationship between matter and energy, something Vivekananda hoped would give a scientific foundation to Vedantic cosmology. The meeting with Swami Vivekananda stimulated Tesla's interest in Eastern Science, which led to Tesla studying Hindu and Vedic philosophy for a number of years. Tesla later wrote an article titled "Man's Greatest Achievement" using Sanskrit terms akasha and prana to describe the relationship between matter and energy. In the late 1920s, Tesla befriended George Sylvester Viereck, a poet, writer, mystic, and later, a Nazi propagandist. Tesla occasionally attended dinner parties held by Viereck and his wife.
Tesla could be harsh at times and openly expressed disgust for overweight people, such as when he fired a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize clothing; on several occasions, Tesla directed a subordinate to go home and change her dress. When Thomas Edison died in 1931, Tesla contributed the only negative opinion to The New York Times, buried in an extensive coverage of Edison's life:
He had no hobby, cared for no sort of amusement of any kind and lived in utter disregard of the most elementary rules of hygiene ... His method was inefficient in the extreme, for an immense ground had to be covered to get anything at all unless blind chance intervened and, at first, I was almost a sorry witness of his doings, knowing that just a little theory and calculation would have saved him 90 percent of the labor. But he had a veritable contempt for book learning and mathematical knowledge, trusting himself entirely to his inventor's instinct and practical American sense.
Tesla became a vegetarian in his later years, living on only milk, bread, honey, and vegetable juices.
Views and beliefs
On experimental and theoretical physics
Tesla disagreed with the theory of atoms being composed of smaller subatomic particles, stating there was no such thing as an electron creating an electric charge. He believed that if electrons existed at all, they were some fourth state of matter or "sub-atom" that could exist only in an experimental vacuum and that they had nothing to do with electricity. Tesla believed that atoms are immutable—they could not change state or be split in any way. He was a believer in the 19th-century concept of an all-pervasive ether that transmitted electrical energy.
Tesla was generally antagonistic towards theories about the conversion of matter into energy. He was also critical of Einstein's theory of relativity, saying:
I hold that space cannot be curved, for the simple reason that it can have no properties. It might as well be said that God has properties. He has not, but only attributes and these are of our own making. Of properties we can only speak when dealing with matter filling the space. To say that in the presence of large bodies space becomes curved is equivalent to stating that something can act upon nothing. I, for one, refuse to subscribe to such a view.
In 1935 he described relativity as "a beggar wrapped in purple whom ignorant people take for a king" and said his own experiments had measured the speed of cosmic rays from Arcturus as fifty times the speed of light.
Tesla claimed to have developed his own physical principle regarding matter and energy that he started working on in 1892, and in 1937, at age 81, claimed in a letter to have completed a "dynamic theory of gravity" that " put an end to idle speculations and false conceptions, as that of curved space". He stated that the theory was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Further elucidation of his theory was never found in his writings.
On society
Tesla is widely considered by his biographers to have been a humanist in philosophical outlook. This did not preclude Tesla, like many of his era, from becoming a proponent of an imposed selective breeding version of eugenics.
Tesla expressed the belief that human "pity" had come to interfere with the natural "ruthless workings of nature". Though his argumentation did not depend on a concept of a "master race" or the inherent superiority of one person over another, he advocated for eugenics. In a 1937 interview he stated:
... man's new sense of pity began to interfere with the ruthless workings of nature. The only method compatible with our notions of civilization and the race is to prevent the breeding of the unfit by sterilization and the deliberate guidance of the mating instinct ... The trend of opinion among eugenists is that we must make marriage more difficult. Certainly no one who is not a desirable parent should be permitted to produce progeny. A century from now it will no more occur to a normal person to mate with a person eugenically unfit than to marry a habitual criminal.
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, and indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future.
Tesla made predictions about the relevant issues of a post-World War I environment in a printed article entitled "Science and Discovery are the great Forces which will lead to the Consummation of the War" (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues.
On religion
Tesla was raised an Orthodox Christian. Later in life he did not consider himself to be a "believer in the orthodox sense", said he opposed religious fanaticism, and said "Buddhism and Christianity are the greatest religions both in number of disciples and in importance." He also said "To me, the universe is simply a great machine which never came into being and never will end" and "what we call 'soul' or 'spirit,' is nothing more than the sum of the functionings of the body. When this functioning ceases, the 'soul' or the 'spirit' ceases likewise."
Literary works
Tesla wrote a number of books and articles for magazines and journals. Among his books are My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla, compiled and edited by Ben Johnston in 1983 from a series of 1919 magazine articles by Tesla which were republished in 1977; The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla (1993), compiled and edited by David Hatcher Childress; and The Tesla Papers.
Many of Tesla's writings are freely available online, including the article "The Problem of Increasing Human Energy", published in The Century Magazine in 1900, and the article "Experiments with Alternate Currents of High Potential and High Frequency", published in his book Inventions, Researches and Writings of Nikola Tesla.
Legacy and honors
See also: Nikola Tesla in popular culture, List of things named after Nikola Tesla, and List of Nikola Tesla patentsIn 1952, following pressure from Tesla's nephew, influential Yugoslav politician Sava Kosanović [sr], Tesla's entire estate was shipped to Belgrade in 80 trunks marked N.T. In 1957, Kosanović's secretary Charlotte Muzar transported Tesla's ashes from the United States to Belgrade. The ashes are displayed in a gold-plated sphere on a marble pedestal in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla's Archive consists of over 160,000 original documents and is included in UNESCO Memory of the World Programme.
Tesla obtained around 300 patents worldwide for his inventions. Some of Tesla's patents are not accounted for, and various sources have discovered some that have lain hidden in patent archives. There are a minimum of 278 known patents issued to Tesla in 26 countries. Many of Tesla's patents were in the United States, Britain, and Canada, but many other patents were approved in countries around the globe. Many inventions developed by Tesla were not put into patent protection.
See also
- Atmospheric electricity – Electricity in planetary atmospheres
- Michael Faraday – English physicist and chemist (1791–1867)
- Charles Proteus Steinmetz – American mathematician and electrical engineer (1865–1923)
- Telluric current – Natural electric current in the Earth's crust
Notes
Footnotes
- Tesla does not mention which professor this was by name, but some sources conclude this was Martin Sekulić.
- Tesla's contemporaries remembered that on a previous occasion Machine Works manager Batchelor had been unwilling to give Tesla a $7 a week pay raise
- Account comes from a letter Tesla sent in 1938 on the occasion of receiving an award from the National Institute of Immigrant Welfare
- Tesla's own experiments led him to erroneously believe Hertz had misidentified a form of conduction instead of a new form of electromagnetic radiation, an incorrect assumption that Tesla held for a couple of decades.
Citations
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- Cheney 2011, p. 25, "The tiny house in which he was born stood next to the Serbian Orthodox Church presided over by his father, the Reverend Milutin Tesla, who sometimes wrote articles under the nom-de-plume 'Man of Justice'".
- Carlson 2013, p. 14, "Following a reprimand at school for not keeping his brass buttons polished, he quit and instead chose to become a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church".
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In the natural sciences, Austria produced a remarkable number of talented theorists and experimentalists. The electrical genius Nikola Tesla, from Croatia, studied in Karlovac at one of the rigorous German-language high schools, the Gymnasiums, established throughout the Austrian Empire.
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References
- Burgan, Michael (2009). Nikola Tesla: Inventor, Electrical Engineer. Mankato, Minnesota: Capstone. ISBN 978-0-7565-4086-9.
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- Pickover, Clifford A. (1999). Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives Of Eccentric Scientists And Madmen. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-688-16894-0. Archived from the original on 23 March 2024. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
- Petešić, Ćiril (1976). Genij s našeg kamenjara: život i djelo Nikole Tesle [The genius from our rocks: life and work of Nikola Tesla] (in Croatian). Zagreb: Školske novine. OCLC 36439558.
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Further reading
Library resources aboutNikola Tesla
By Nikola Tesla
Books
- Tesla, Nikola, My Inventions, Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June 1919. Part VI published October 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble, 1982; also online at Lucid Cafe Archived 2 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine, et cetera Archived 26 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine as My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla, 1919. ISBN 978-0-910077-00-2
- Carlson, W. Bernard (2013). Tesla, Inventor of the Electrical Age. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-6910-5776-7
- Glenn, Jim (1994). The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla. ISBN 978-1-56619-266-8
- Lomas, Robert (1999). The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity. London: Headline. ISBN 978-0-7472-7588-6
- Martin, Thomas C. (editor) (1894, 1996 reprint, copyright expired), The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, includes some lectures, Montana: Kessinger. ISBN 978-1-56459-711-3
- McNichol, Tom (2006). AC/DC The Savage Tale of the First Standards War, Jossey-Bass. ISBN 978-0-7879-8267-6
- Peat, F. David (2002). In Search of Nikola Tesla (Revised ed.). Bath: Ashgrove. ISBN 978-1-85398-117-3.
- Trinkaus, George (2002). Tesla: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press. ISBN 978-0-9709618-2-2
- Valone, Thomas (2002). Harnessing the Wheelwork of Nature: Tesla's Science of Energy. ISBN 978-1-931882-04-0
Publications
- A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
- Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888–1940.
- Light Without Heat Archived 16 March 2022 at the Wayback Machine, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
- Biography: Nikola Tesla Archived 9 May 2006 at the Wayback Machine, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
- Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions Archived 9 May 2006 at the Wayback Machine, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
- The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy with Sparks Archived 16 March 2022 at the Wayback Machine, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
Journals
- Pavićević, Aleksandra (2014). "From lighting to dust death, funeral and post mortem destiny of Nikola Tesla". Glasnik Etnografskog instituta SANU. 62 (2): 125–139. doi:10.2298/GEI1402125P. hdl:21.15107/rcub_dais_8218. ISSN 0350-0861.
- Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
- Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla Archived 30 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
- Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
- Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
- Thibault, Ghislain, "The Automatization of Nikola Tesla: Thinking Invention in the Late Nineteenth Century". Configurations Archived 28 March 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Volume 21, Number 1, Winter 2013, pp. 27–52.
- Martin, Thomas Commerford, "The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla", New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995
- Anil K. Rajvanshi, "Nikola Tesla – The Creator of Electric Age", Resonance, March 2007.
- Roguin, Ariel, "Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit". J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369–374. 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
- Sellon, J. L., "The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry". Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125–133.
- Valentinuzzi, M.E., "Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten?" Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74–75.
- Secor, H. Winfield, "Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4 August 1917.
- Florey, Glen, "Tesla and the Military". Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
- Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
- Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
- Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
- Anderson, L. I., "John Stone Stone on Nikola Tesla's Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus". The AWA Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18–41.
- Anderson, L. I., "Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi". Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
- Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, "Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation". Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327–331 vol.1)
Video
- Nikola Tesla Archived 17 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine – 1977 ten-episode TV series featuring Rade Šerbedžija as Tesla.
- Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla) Archived 5 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine' – 1980 Documentary directed by Krsto Papić, featuring Petar Božović as Tesla and Orson Welles as J.P. Morgan
- Tesla: Master of Lightning Archived 19 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine – 2003 Documentary by Robert Uth, featuring Stacy Keach as the voice of Tesla.
- Tesla – a 2016 documentary film by David Grubin presented on the American Experience series.
- Tesla – a 2020 biographical film by Michael Almereyda presented at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.
External links
External videos | |
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Booknotes interview with Jill Jonnes on Empires of Light, 26 October 2003, C-SPAN |
(2 parts, 1 hour and 42 minutes)
- Nikola Tesla Museum
- Tesla memorial society by his grand-nephew William H. Terbo
- Tesla – References in European newspapers
- Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
- FBI. "Nikola Tesla" (PDF). Main Investigative File. FBI.
- Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe
- Works by Nikola Tesla at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Nikola Tesla at the Internet Archive
- Works by Nikola Tesla at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Debunking the Tesla Myth (opinion piece)
- - "Tesla's pigeon" - Amanda Gefter
Nikola Tesla | ||
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Career and inventions | ||
Writings | ||
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IEEE Edison Medal | |
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1909–1925 |
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- Nikola Tesla
- 1856 births
- 1943 deaths
- 19th-century American engineers
- 19th-century Serbian engineers
- 20th-century American engineers
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