Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla

A Brief History

Born on July 10th 1856, Tesla lived in the small village of Smiljan, in the Austrian Empire, with his father, Milutin Tesla, a Serbian Orthodox priest, his mother, Duka Tesla, his older brother Dane, and three sisters, Milka, Angelina and Marica. Nikola started his studies at the lower Primary school in Smiljan but soon after tragic horse riding accident in which his older brother Dane passed away, moved with his family to the city of Gospic where he continued his lower level and primary level schooling.  In 1870, at the age of 14, Nikola moved to Karlovac, Croatia where he attended the Higher Real Gymnasium school and proceeded in finishing his 4 year term in just 3 years.
After graduating from the Higher Real Gymnasium Tesla returned home to Croatia where he unfortunately contracted “Cholera”, a bacterial disease of the small intestine, and was forced to bedrest for roughly 9 months. After he recovered, and in an effort to dodge the war draft, Tesla spent a year exploring the mountians and wilderness of Tomingaj, durning that year he spent the majority of his time reading books and becoming more physically and mentally in contact with nature.
In 1875, at the age of 19, Tesla enrolled at the Austrian Polytechnic school in Graz, Austria, but only after 3 years and a brief gambling addiction, Tesla lost his scholarship, dropped out of school and moved to Maribor where he worked as a draftsman.

The Great American Innovator

In 1884, after two years working for the Continental Edison Company in France designing and developing new electrical equipment, Tesla finally made his move to the United States where he started living in New York and working directly for Thomas Edison, solving company problems and re engineering Edison’s Direct Current motor.  After a short time with Edison, and lack of pay, Tesla decided to resign and start his own company which he named Tesla Electric Light and Manufacturing.  Just a short time after starting the company Tesla released his first great innovation with his patient of the Alternating Current motor, unfortunately with a lack of funding from investors Tesla was forced to end production on the motor and dissolve his company.  Success finally came in 1887 when he received financial backing from New York attorneys Charles Peck and Alfred Brown and started the Tesla Electric Company, where he developed the first brush less alternating current induction motor.  This was revolutionary to the time because up until this point Edison’s direct current motor was the only means of creating electricity and Telsa’s new AC motor was proven to be more effective and cost efficient.


Tesla’s AC Motor

After creating the AC motor Tesla found a fascination with Radio Waves.  He developed the first radio remote controlled boat and the idea of wirelessely transmitting electricity and another one of his most famous creations, the Tesla Coil.


The Tesla Coil

In 1900, with the financial backing of J.P. Morgan, Tesla began working on the Wardenclyffe Tower Facility.  Tesla hoped to create a wireless antenna that would be big and powerful enough to transmit electricity across the Atlantic Ocean, but shortly after the funds ran dry and Tesla could not pay back the initial loan from Morgan, he was forced to stop construction of the tower and eventually demolish the tower entirely.


The Wardenclyffe Facility

Tesla died at the age of 86 on January 7, 1943, alone and in debt.  Even though he never got to see just how useful his inventions were to the world, we should still think of him every time we start our cars or flip on a light switch.  It’s great inventors like Tesla that made this country what it is and I am thankful everyday for what he brought into this world.

Works Cited:
“Nikola Tesla.” Wikipedia. Web, 3 Dec 2012.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla

“Edison and Tesla DC VS. AC.” Franklin Russell. Web, 3 Dec 2012.

http://www.examiner.com/article/edison-and-tesla-dc-vs-ac