Nikola Tesla
(1856-1943)
BIRTH
July 10, 1856
PLACE
Smiljan, Croatia
DEATH
January 7, 1943
PLACE
New York City, New York
FAMILY
FATHER
Milutin Tesla
(1819–1879)
MOTHER
Đuka Mandić
(1822–1892)
HOMES
NICKNAMES
Niko
RELIGIOUS VIEWS
NOT YET RESEARCHED
NOT YET RESEARCHED
MEMBERSHIPS
AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY MEMBER
AWARDS
AIEE EDISON MEDAL RECIPIENT, ELLIOTT CRESSON MEDAL RECIPIENT, JOHN SCOTT MEDAL RECIPIENT, ORDER OF PRINCE DANILO I GRAND CROSS, ORDER OF ST SAVA GRAND CROSS, ORDER OF THE WHITE EAGLE RECIPIENT, ORDER OF THE WHITE LION GRAND CROSS
Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla developed the alternating current induction motor and polyphase system that became the basis of modern electrical power distribution. He soon left and in 1887 founded his own company. Westinghouse's AC system lit the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 and powered the Niagara Falls hydroelectric plant that opened in 1895. He spent his later years in New York hotels, increasingly poor and isolated.
EARLY LIFE
Nikola Tesla was born on July 10, 1856, in Smiljan, in the Military Frontier of the Austrian Empire, now in Croatia, the son of Milutin Tesla, a Serbian Orthodox priest, and Đuka Mandić, who invented household devices. He attended school in Gospić and Karlovac and in 1875 entered the Imperial-Royal Technical College in Graz, Austria, on a military frontier scholarship. There he became fascinated by the problem of alternating current, but he lost his scholarship and left without a degree. In 1880 he went to Prague, and in 1881 he began work for a telephone company in Budapest, where he later said he conceived the rotating magnetic field.
Nikola Tesla developed his engineering career in European communications and electrical companies before moving to the United States in 1884. He worked briefly for Edison's organization, then pursued independent ventures. His patents in 1888 described an alternating-current induction motor and polyphase system, attracting support from George Westinghouse. Licensing and development by Westinghouse linked Tesla's ideas with the expanding commercial use of alternating current.
Tesla's work contributed to systems associated with the 1893 Chicago exposition and the hydroelectric project at Niagara Falls. These achievements depended on teams, manufacturers, and other electrical pioneers as well as his patents. He also developed high-frequency apparatus, including the device known as the Tesla coil, and investigated lighting, electrical discharges, and wireless transmission. Public lectures and demonstrations made him a prominent figure, combining experimental work with a persuasive vision of future technology.
In 1898 Tesla demonstrated a radio-controlled boat, anticipating applications of remote control. Experiments at Colorado Springs in 1899 explored high voltages and wireless effects. He then established the Wardenclyffe project on Long Island, seeking large-scale wireless communication and power transmission with financial backing that included J. P. Morgan. The project exceeded available resources and did not become a functioning commercial system.
Tesla continued developing proposals and patents, but later decades brought reduced financial stability and increasingly speculative claims. He died in New York in 1943. The history of radio includes his important earlier work but also several other inventors; patent rulings do not establish that he alone invented every part of the technology. His career combines genuine electrical advances, ambitious experimentation, effective publicity, and costly unfinished schemes. The enduring influence of polyphase motors and high-frequency techniques is distinct from popular legends built around his personality. A balanced assessment recognizes the originality of particular ideas while examining whether each proposal was demonstrated, engineered successfully, or remained speculative. His work illustrates both the opportunities created by industrial electrification and the risks of pursuing an expansive technical vision without sustained practical and financial support.
CAREER
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 St. Patrick's Cathedral and the Public 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. The full extent of his injuries was never known; Tesla refused to consult a doctor, an almost lifelong custom, and never fully recovered. On the night of 7 January 1943, at the age of 86, Tesla died alone in his hotel room. His body was found by a maid on the next day when she entered his room, ignoring the "do not disturb" sign that had been placed on his door three days earlier. An assistant medical examiner examined the body, estimated the time of death as 10:30p.m. and ruled that the cause of death had been coronary thrombosis. Since this was during World War II, there were concerns raised in the U.S. government that Tesla's effects, including plans for a purported beam weapon, would go to his nephew, an exiled Yugoslav politician who could conceivably hand them over to enemies of the United States. With Kosanović being a non-U.S. citizen, the Federal Bureau of Investigation asked the Office of Alien Property Custodian to seize Tesla's belongings two days after his death. John G. Trump, an electrical engineering professor at MIT serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee, was called in to analyze the Tesla items.
Nikola Tesla Museum (urn)
Krunska 51, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
GRAVE
GRAVE
Nikola Tesla Museum (urn)
Krunska 51, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
POPULAR BIOGRAPHIES
1. Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age — W. Bernard Carlson. Find on Amazon
2. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla — Marc J. Seifer. Find on Amazon
3. Tesla: Man Out of Time — Margaret Cheney. Find on Amazon
4. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla — John J. O'Neill. Find on Amazon
5. Lightning in His Hand: The Life Story of Nikola Tesla — Inez Hunt and Wanetta W. Draper. Find on Amazon
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