The Master of Lightning: Nikola Tesla

Bonnie Asher
History 222

When one hears the name Nikola Tesla, the idea of a great inventor usually does not pop
into ones head instantaneously. In fact, in most cases the person doesnt know who that is.
Nikola Tesla, the protg of Thomas Edison, was a remarkable scientist who improved the
science of mechanical and electrical engineering diligently up until his death, where he began to
be forgotten by those who study electrical and mechanical engineering. He invented many
things, including the induction motor and the AC current. Tesla was known by many journalists
and media as the stereotypical mad scientist up until his death in 1946. 1
Tesla was born the fourth child to Milutin and Duka Tesla. His father, Milutin, was a Serbian
priest; and his mother was a housewife who built her own mechanical eggbeater and also had a
knack for being able to memorize and recite Serbian epic poems.2 Tesla was born on July 10th,
1856 in Smiljan; a village in the Austrian Empire. Teslas eldest brother, Dane, was killed when
Tesla was five, either due to a horseback riding incident or by being pushed down the cellar stairs
by Nikola as Dane accused as he lie delirious in the hospital.3 Because of Danes death, Tesla
was slated to follow in his fathers footsteps and become a pastor. The family moved to Gospic, a
town in the Austrian Empire in 1862. 4
Tesla excelled in primary school, being able to calculate integral calculus completely in his head;
much to the disbelief of his teachers.5 In 1873 he finished his four year term in three. After
1 Van Riper
2 ONeill, John J
3 Cheney, Margaret
4 Tesla Universe
5 PBS.org

returning home from school, Tesla contracted cholera which worried his father. Tesla saw this as
an opportunity to coerce his father to rescind his plans for Tesla to enter the priesthood and made
his father promise that if Tesla got better; he would send him to Austrian Polytechnic School in
Graz, Austria. Tesla eventually recovered, and as promised, his father allowed him to attend the
Polytechnic School.6 However, this was not before Tesla had to avoid being drafted into the army
in Smiljan.
Tesla hid out in the mountains of Tomingaj, where he donned the clothes of a hunter and
explored the mountains. To Tesla, this was an invigorating experience in which he grew both
mentally and physically strong.7 Alongside exploring the mountains, Tesla also read Mark Twain,
which supposedly made him recover miraculously from his previous bout with cholera.8 After
about a year of hiding out in the mountains, Tesla returned to Graz; where he enrolled in the
Polytechnic School on a scholarship.
During his first year in Graz; Tesla constantly impressed his professors. He passed nine exams,
never missed a lecture, earned the highest grades possible, and even impressed the Dean of the
school so much that a letter of commendation was sent back to his father.9 Tesla worked from
3am to 11pm without pause, holidays, or Sundays. In his second year at the college, Tesla
clashed with professors over his idea that the Gramme Dynamo, which was a machine that could
be used as both a generator and a motor, could be improved by removing an inefficient part
6 Glenn
7 Tesla Universe
8 Tesla, Nikola
9 ONeill, John J

called commutators. His professors were amused at this idea, and liked it to creating a perpetual
motion machine. However, several years later, Tesla would use this original idea to create his
famous induction motor.10
Towards the end of Teslas second year in Graz, he became addicted to gambling. His grades
began to slip, and eventually he had gambled away his tuition and allowance money. Tesla then
requested an extension of his exams in order to study, but was denied. He then dropped out of
school and never received grades for the semester. In order to hide his shame from his family and
friends, Tesla moved to Maribor where he worked as a draftsman. In 1879, his father went to
Maribor, pleading for his sons return but was turned away. Tesla then suffered a nervous
breakdown.11
Eventually, Tesla was returned to Gospic with the police for not having a residence permit. His
father died shortly after this, and Tesla began teaching at his old school in Gospic.12 In 1880,
Teslas uncles then pooled money together to help Tesla go to Prague where he was to enroll at
Charles-Ferdinand University. However, he had never studied Greek or Czech which were two
required subjects, and he also arrived too late to enroll. Not to be deterred in his pursuit for
knowledge however, Tesla attended lectures at the university as an auditor. 13
Through this he began to work in a telegraph company. While working there he came to the
epiphany that the company was not entirely functional, and became a draftsman for the Central
10 Tesla, Nikola
11 Seifer, Marc J
12 Tesla Universe
13 Mrkich, D

Telegraph Office instead. Because of this, the Budapest Telephone Exchange became functional,
and Tesla was sent to become the chief electrician.14 During this time he was claimed to have
completed a perfect telephone repeater or amplifier. Unfortunately it was never patented or made
public.15
During the next few years Tesla began to work with Thomas Edison, under his Continental
Edison Company in France. When he was relocated to New York City he was hired by Edison to
work with his Edison Machine Works project. Teslas quickly rose the ranks during the Edisons
Machine Work.16 He boasted that he could boost the efficiency of Edisons inefficient motor and
generators. This would improve the economy and the service both. Edison remarked on this,
offering Tesla fifty thousand dollarsif you can do it.17 Tesla diligently worked for months
and submitted results. Edison denied any statement of payment, saying that Tesla didnt
understand his American humor. 18 However, Tesla was offered a 10$ raise over his 18$ salary, in
recompense, which he got weekly. Tesla refused however, and resigned immediately.19
Tesla then began the formation of his own company, the Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing in
1886. Tesla, always the innovator, pushed the company towards developing his alternating

14 Tesla Universe
15 Tesla, Nikola
16 Carey, Charles
17 Cheny, 2001
18 Pickover, Clifford
19 Cheney 2001

current systems, and installing electrical arc light illumination systems designed by Tesla.
Eventually, the investors disagreed, and fired him. This left Tesla virtually broke, and he was
forced to work as a ditch digger for low wages. 20
In 1887, Tesla hit a stroke of luck and started a new company, the Tesla Electric Co., with the
backing of Charles F. Peck, a New York attorney, and Alfred S. Brown, the director of Western
Union. Setting their stake upon 89 Liberty Street in Manhattan, New York, where he would work
on his alternating current motor, and other devices dealing with power distribution. 21 He
constructed and experimented with a brushless alternating current induction motor, which he had
based on a rotating magnetic field principle he was claimed to have thought of earlier in 1882.
However, a month before Tesla was due to show off his AC motor, Oliver B. Shallenberger, a
Westinghouse engineer invented an induction meter that was based on Teslas same principle. On
top of that, an English engineer also stated he was working on an induction motor during Teslas
demonstration. 22
Tesla was not to be discouraged though. In 1893, he revealed his alternating current electricity at
the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The world was amazed, and it quickly became the
standard in the world during the 20th century. Tesla went on to design the first hydroelectric
power plant for Niagara Falls in 1895, which lead to the media dubbing him a hero across the
world.23
20 Tesla Timeline
21 Tesla Timeline
22 Dosi, Teece, Chytry
23 Tesla Society

Tesla soon became overworked in his pursuits to make his alternating current the standard of the
future. His New York laboratory was continuously busy. Tesla began to toss aside many ideas
and inventions that he had thought of, mainly because his unwillingness to write down what he
was thinking about and his short attention span. When he lost his memory after one incident of
being overworked, his assistant filed for patents on several of Teslas inventions. 24
Tesla finally broke through with his Tesla coil and high frequency machines. By 1900 he had
obtained powerful discharges of 1,000 feet and flashed a current around the globe, I was
reminded of the first tiny spark I observed in my Grand Street laboratory and was thrilled by the
sensations akin to those I felt when I discovered the rotating magnetic field.25
Teslas experiments and innovation did not go unnoticed for long. In 1901, famous billionaire
entrepreneur J.P. Morgan offered Tesla $150,000 to build an alternating current transmission
plant. The construction of this plant was started in 1901 in Long Island, New York. He dubbed
the land Wardenclyffe Tower. It stood 186 feet high, and dug down into another 150 feet of
ground. However, J.P. Morgan eventually withdrew from funding Tesla, and construction on
Wardenclyffe Tower was halted.
Tesla still used the tower for experimenting however, and even went so far as to shoot a
bolt of electricity a hundred and twenty feet into the air above the antenna. It caused fires at the
power company however, and they restricted any power being sent to Wardenclyffe Tower.
Eventually it succumbed to the test of time, and was eventually destroyed in 1917. 26
24 Corrosion Doctors
25 The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla
26 Garden of Praise

After Teslas Wardenclyffe Tower came crashing down upon him, Tesla switched his
focus to turbines and other projects. His ideas never left the notebook he wrote them down upon,
and in 1915 he when he was snuffed by the Nobel Prize committee and did not get to share
Edisons Nobel Prize with him. Ironically, Tesla was then the recipient of the Edison Medal in
1917, which is the highest honor that the American Institute of Electrical Engineers can bestow.27
In 1919, Tesla published his autobiography through a series in the magazine Electrical
Experimenter. This helped push the publics view of a mad scientist who had a death ray in
Wardenclyffe tower that could incinerate ten thousand people away, and people began to see
Tesla in a different light. However, his statements in his autobiography were often sensational
regardless. He continued to post radical things for his time, such as How to Send Signals to
Mars, and The Breaking of Tornadoes. Teslas health continued to worsen up into 1937 as he
began to fall out of the scientific community.
Also in 1937, Tesla was hit by a taxi while he was crossing the street. This contributed to
his steady decline in health. He became secluded from the public, and was alone and often
depressed. Teslas poor health continued into 1943, where on January 5th, he called the United
States Secretary of Defense and offered information about his super weapon to the American
military. The officer who answered the phone assumed it was a prank, and hung up on Tesla,
never to call back again. Two days after this, in a hotel, Tesla died. He was 87 years old.28
Throughout his last year on the earth, Tesla had begun having troubles with his heart and
experiencing fainting spells. On the first of January he complained of chest pains while
27 Neuronet
28 B92.net

conducting an experiment and returned to his hotel where he lived. The last time he was seen
alive was by a hotel maid on the fifth, the night he made his phone call to the Secretary of
Defense.
On January 12th, 1943 over two thousand people gathered at Saint John the Theologians
cathedral to honor the great engineer.
Tesla brought several innovations into this world, most famously his alternating current
and Tesla coil, but his mind was one of the most innovative and intelligent of his era. He went
beyond the normal thoughts and mindsets of the 19th century, and produced scientific marvels
such as the Wardenclyffe tower. He was a man of many talents and skills, and spent out his last
days at the New York Public Library, feeding the pigeons who he called my sincere friends.

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