Nikola Tesla

"Tesla" redirects here. For other uses, see Tesla (disambiguation).

Dr. Nikola Tesla
"I have harnessed the cosmic rays and caused them to operate a motive device." - Nikola Tesla; Brooklyn Eagle, July 10, 1931.
Born	9/10 July 1856 Smiljan, Austrian Empire (now Croatia)
Died	circa January 7, 1943 New York City, New York, USA
Occupation(s)	Engineer and inventor

Nikola Tesla (July 10, 1856 - c. January 7, 1943) was a Serbian-American inventor, physicist, mechanical engineer and electrical engineer. Tesla is recognized among the most accomplished scientists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as one of the greatest contributors to the birth of modern technology. His patents and theoretical work form the basis of modern alternating current electric power (AC) systems, including the polyphase power distribution system and AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.

Nikola Tesla was born in a Serbian family in Smiljan, Lika, then part of the Austrian Empire, today in the Republic of Croatia (ed. It is of some interest to note that Tesla was reportedly born at the very stroke of midnight during a lightning storm, according to various biographies.) While conducting his work in the United States of America, he became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1891. The surname "Tesla" is a Slavic word that means adze.

In the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or in popular culture. After his demonstration of wireless communication in 1893 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as America's greatest electrical engineer. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. Never putting a large focus on his finances, Tesla died impoverished and forgotten at the age of 86. In his later years, Tesla was regarded as a mad scientist and became noted for making bizarre claims about possible scientific developments.

Tesla's legacy can be seen across modern civilization wherever electricity is used. Aside from his work on electromagnetism and engineering, Tesla is said to have contributed in varying degrees to the fields of robotics, ballistics, computer science, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. Tesla considered his exploration of various questions raised by science as ultimately a means to improve the human condition with the principles of science and industrial progress, and one that was compatible with nature. However, many of his achievements have been used, sometimes inappropriately and with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and New Age occultism.

Early years

Tesla was born in a Serbian family in the village Smiljan near Gospić, in the Lika region (today Croatia), Austrian Empire. He was baptised in the Serbian Orthodox Church. His baptism certificate reports that he was born on June 28, 1856 (Julian calendar); July 10 in the Gregorian calendar, and christened by the Serbian Orthodox priest, Toma Oklobdžija. His father was Rev. Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci. His mother was Đuka Mandić, herself a daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest. She was talented in making home craft tools. His godfather, Jovan Drenovac, was a captain in the army protecting the Military Frontier. Tesla was one of five children, having one brother and three sisters. His family moved to Gospić in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac, then studied electrical engineering at the Austria Politechnic in Graz, Austria (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books.

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Nikola Tesla in his early adolescence.

Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. From an early age Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain in precise form before moving to the construction stage. (This is sometimes known as picture thinking).

In 1881 he moved to Budapest to work for a telegraph company, the American Telephone Company. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. For a while he stayed in Maribor, where he was first employed as an assistant engineer. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time.

In 1882 he moved to Paris, France 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 rotating magnetic fields (for which he received patents in 1888).

Soon thereafter, Tesla hastened from Paris to his mother's side as she lay dying, arriving hours before her death in 1882. After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in Gospić and the village of Tomingaj near Gračac, the birthplace of his mother.

In 1884, when Tesla first arrived in the US, he had little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, his manager in his previous job. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, 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 to undertake a complete redesign of the Edison company's direct current generators.

After Tesla described the nature of the benefits from his proposed modifications, Edison offered him $50,000 if they were successfully completed. Tesla 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 replied to him, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," and reneged on his promise. Edison reportedly offered to raise Tesla's salary by $10 per week as a compromise - at which rate it would have taken almost 100 years to earn the money Edison had originally promised. Tesla resigned on the spot.

Electromechanical devices and principles developed by Nikola Tesla: various devices that use rotating magnetic fields (1882) induction motor and "high" frequency alternator means for increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations alternating current long-distance electrical transmission system (1888) Tesla coil bladeless turbine bifilar coil Telegeodynamics systems for wireless communication (prior art for the invention of radio) and radio frequency oscillators robotics and the "AND" logic gate X-rays Tubes using the bremsstrahlung process devices for ionized gases devices for high field emission devices for charged particle beams methods for providing extremely low level of resistance to the passage of electrical current voltage multiplication circuitry devices for high voltage discharges devices for lightning protection Magnifying Transmitter VTOL aircraft Dynamic theory of gravity concepts for electric vehicles

Middle years

In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternate-current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh 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 X-rays using his own single node vacuum tubes (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 bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field 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 Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of what Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as effects of X-rays.

Tesla commented on the hazards of working with single node X-ray producing devices, attributing the skin damage to ozone 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. Nitrous acid may also be responsible, but to a small extent". (Tesla, in Electrical Review, 30 November 1895). This is incorrect concerning cathodic X-ray tubes. Tesla later observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X-rays in his lab. He performed several experiments (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Röntgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 1895 Houston Street lab fire.

On July 30, 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. He lit vacuum tubes wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Around this time, Tesla developed a close and lasting friendship with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in Tesla's lab and elsewhere. Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan Jovanović Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy teachings of the Swami Vivekananda.

Nikola Tesla's generation system using AC circuits to transport energy across great distances. It is contained in US390721.

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 IEEE) from 1892 to 1894. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, effectively building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets.

At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lights and single node bulbs. Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".

Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part due to Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla. As a result of the "War of Currents," Edison and Westinghouse were almost bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays.

When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent (U.S. patent 645,576). A year later, he demonstrated a radio controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio controlled torpedoes. Tesla developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics. In 1898, a radio-controlled boat was demonstrated to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. These devices had an innovative coherer and a series of logic gates. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained U.S. patent 609,250, "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system.

Colorado Springs

Main article: Magnifying Transmitter

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Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts of electricity. The arcs are about 7 meters (22 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a double exposure.)

In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he could have room for his high-voltage high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves.

Tesla, at his lab, proved that the earth was a conductor and produced artificial lightning (with the discharges consisting of millions of volts and up to 135 feet long). . 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., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time.

In the Colorado Springs lab, he "recorded" signals of what he believed were extraterrestrial 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 Jovian plasma torus 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.

Tesla left Colorado Springs on January 7, 1900. 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 wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted U.S. patent 685,012 for the means for increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office 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

Tesla's Wardenclyffe Tower located in Shoreham, Long Island, New York.

In 1900, with $150,000 (51% from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower 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 Guglielmo Marconi 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 hp (150 kW) 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 100-5000 hp. Due to the fact that the Nobel Prize was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, it was believed that Tesla and Edison were to share the Nobel Prize of 1912 (and, later alone, in Nobel Prize of 1915). Tesla's rumored nominations for the Nobel Prize in Physics was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers. It was possible that Tesla was told of the plans of the physics award committee and let it be known that he would not share the award with Edison. 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.

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Tesla's portrait in Paris, sporting the pose he is often immortalized in today.

After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken 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 Marines because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.

Prior to the World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost 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 (December 20, 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder 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 insanity and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.

At this time, he was staying at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, 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 AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal. The irony of this honor was surely not lost on Tesla.

Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. In 1934, Emile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building radar systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the twenties, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". The Chamberlain government was removed, though, before any final negotiations occurred. The incoming Baldwin government found no use for Tesla's suggestions and ended negotiations.

Nikola Tesla, with Rudjer Boscovich'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, Time magazine put him on its cover. 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 VTOL aircraft. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul Janković of his homeland. The letter contained the message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin 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.

Field theories

When he was eighty-one, Tesla stated he had completed a dynamic theory of gravity. He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and hoped to give to the world the theory soon. _[1] The theory was never published. At the time of his announcement, it was considered by the scientific establishment to exceed the bounds of reason. Some believe that Tesla never fully developed the Unified Field Theory.

While Tesla had "worked out a dynamic theory of gravity" that he soon hoped to give to the world, he died before he publicized any details. Tesla's critique in the announcement was the opening clash between him and modern experimental physics. Tesla may have viewed his principles in such a manner as to not be in conflict with other modern theories (besides Einstein's). Tesla's theory is ignored many researchers and most modern physicists.

The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments for with high frequency and high potential 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 electrodynamics consisting of transverse waves (to a lesser extent) and longitudinal waves (for the majority). Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that,

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 it's turn. Whenever action is born from force, though it be infinitesimal, the cosmic balance is upset and the universal motion results.

Tesla, concerning Albert Einstein's relativity theory, 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 Boskovic, the great philosopher, who, not withstanding other and multifold obligations, wrote a thousand volumes of excellent literature on a vast variety of subjects. Boskovic dealt with relativity, including the so-called time-space continuum...', (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, April 6 1897, reconstructed 1994).

Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work,

...[a] 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... (New York Times, July 11 1935, p23, c.8).

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.', (New York Hearald Tribune, September 11 1932)

Death and afterwards

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Bust of Tesla by Ivan Meštrović, 1952.

Tesla died of heart failure alone in the New Yorker hotel, some time between the evening of January 5 and the morning of January 8, 1943, at the age of 86. Despite selling his AC electricity patents, Tesla was essentially destitute and died with significant debts. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645,576 in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.

Immediately after Tesla's death became known, the Federal Bureau of Investigation instructed the Office of Alien Property to take possession of his papers and property, despite his US citizenship. At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on what he claimed was a teleforce weapon, or death ray. It appears that his proposed death ray was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma. After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. All of his personal effects were seized on the advice of presidential advisors, and J. Edgar Hoover declared the case "most secret", because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents.

Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park

Tesla's Serbian-Orthodox 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 Kosanovich, got possession of some of his personal effects which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, Serbia. Tesla's funeral took place on January 12, 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. After the funeral, his body was cremated. His ashes were taken to Belgrade, Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla museum, where it resides to this day. Tesla did not like to pose for portraits. He did it only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy, but that portrait is lost. His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian artist Ivan Meštrović, 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 Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the Rudjer Boskovic Institute in Zagreb. In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of Gospić in 1986.

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 conspiracies about 'hidden knowledge'. Many contemporary admirers of Dr. Tesla have affectionately deemed him "the man who invented the twentieth century". Tesla's house in Smiljan is currently open for visitors as a memorial museum.

Personal views

Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. 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.

"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.

Like many of his era, Tesla became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of 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 in an interview, commenting on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future.

Education

Tesla was fluent in many languages: Serbian, Croatian, he also spoke seven other languages: English, Czech, Hungarian, French, German, Latin, and Italian.

Primary

• Elementary school: Gospić
• Secondary school: Karlovac

Degrees

• Baccalaureate of Physics: Austrian Polytechnic Institute (Graz)
• Baccalaureate of Mathematics: Austrian Polytechnic Institute (Graz)
• Baccalaureate of Mechanical Engineering: Austrian Polytechnic Institute (Graz)
• Baccalaureate of Electrical Engineering: Austrian Polytechnic Institute (Graz)

Graduate studies

• Physics at Charles University in Prague

Docteur Honoris Causa

For his work Tesla received numerous honorary doctoral degrees from a number of universities to include: Columbia University, Graz Polytechnic Institute,University of Zagreb, Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest, University of Belgrade, University of Brno, University of Grenoble, University of Paris, University de Poitiers, Charles University in Prague, University of Sofia, Vienna Polytechnic Institute, and Yale University

Further reading

For a detailed outline of Dr. Tesla's education and certifications, see:

W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, "Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials)". Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22-25, 2001 (PDF)

Recognition and honors

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 IEEE (at the time the AIEE) and was awarded its most prestigious prize, the Edison Medal. He was also made a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and accepted invitations to become a member of the American Philosophical Society, and the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Because of his research in electrotherapy and his invention of high frequency oscillators, he was also made a fellow of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association.

SI Unit

The scientific compound derived SI unit measuring magnetic flux density or magnetic induction (commonly known as the magnetic field B), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960).

IEEE Nikola Tesla Award

In 1975 the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) created a Nikola Tesla Award 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 electric power. The Tesla award is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power.

Airport

On February 1, the Serbian government approved a plan to officially rename Belgrade International Airport to Nikola Tesla airport. This shall officially occur on July 10, 2006 in honor of his 150th birthday.

Yugoslavian/Serbian currency

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100 Serbian dinars front. Photo courtesy of National Bank of Serbia.

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100 Serbian dinars back. Note the drawing of the electric motor.

Nikola Tesla was featured on the currency of the former Yugoslavia. The current 100 Serbian dinar banknotes issued by the National Bank of Serbia 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 gas filled tube emitting light as a result of electric induction.

Cosmological objects

The Tesla crater on the far side of the moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are named after Tesla.

Electric power stations

Two of the coal fired power stations run by Electric Power Industry of Serbia, TPP Nikola Tesla A and TPP Nikola Tesla B, are named in honor of Tesla.

Commerce

The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is named Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d. (Nikola Tesla was a phone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in 1990s) in honour of Nikola Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.

Science fiction and computer games

Tesla technology is recurring in alternate history works like steampunk, or stories concerning secret pre WWII technology

• Tesla appears as a character in the 1995 novel The Prestige by Christopher Priest.
• Tesla also makes a brief appearance as a character in the 1989 novel Moon Palace by Paul Auster.
• Tesla is a continuing character in a series of novels by Spider Robinson concerned with Callahan's Crosstime Saloon.
• In the ZBS series of audio plays The Adventures of Ruby, Tesla is considered to be the deity of technicians and engineers and can be summoned with a special chant near a reproduction of a Tesla Coil.
• The superperson Nikola Tesla is a Japanese comic (manga).
• Tesla is a character in the DC Comics Elseworlds story, JLA: Age of Wonder
• In the White Wolf roleplaying game Mage: the Ascension, Nikola Tesla is mentioned as being one of the most respected members of the Sons of Ether Tradition.
• The Tesla Gun in the computer game Return to Castle Wolfenstein is a weapon that projects lightning-like electrical arcs.
• The Tesla Armor of the Fallout series of computer games provides excellent protection against laser and plasma/electrical attack types.
• Two weapons in the Ratchet & Clank video game series, the Tesla Claw and Tesla Barrier (the upgraded version of the Shield Charger), use electricity to attack enemies
• In the computer game Arcanum, two of the technological schematics available to Electrical Technologists are the Tesla Rod (a staff which fires bolts of electricity) and the Tesla Gun (a Tesla Rod combined with a Looking-Glass Rifle; effectively an energy rifle).
• In the game Tomb Raider Legend (Lara's Seventh Adventure), Lara visits Kazakhstan where she utilises a magnetic recoil gun, which draws in and propels out magnetic objects. The scene also features a large Tesla coil/generator.
• In the Command & Conquer Red Alert series of video games, "Tesla" is the name of the technology the Soviets use to generate power and for their lightning-based weapons.
• Many other computer games feature devices with "Tesla" in the name.
• A reference to Tesla's "Legendary Death Ray" is made in the film The Librarian: Quest for The Spear (2004), in which the actual prototype is housed in the massive library of artifacts and books, which also includes such artifacts (fabled, or otherwise) as The Ark of the Covenant and Excalibur. Phillip R.elic 16:45, 20 March 2006 (UTC)
• In Tomb Raider: Legend Lara Croft has to investigate Tesla's facility in Kazhakastan in order to uncover an ancient artifact which is powering the Tesla plant's main weapons array.
• In Martian Dreams, Tesla has a minor role as the head of a rescue team sent to Mars.

Arts

• The rock band Tesla is named after him. They referenced his life and works a number of times, such as in the song "Edison's Medicine" (and accompanying music video) and the album The Great Radio Controversy.
• The British pop group Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark released a single from their 1984 album Junk Culture called "Tesla Girls". The song included the lyrics: 'Tesla girls tesla girls/Testing out theories/Electric chairs and dynamos/Dressed to kill they’re killing me'.
• The one-man synth pop force Joy Electric recorded a song titled Nikola Tesla on the 2004 album "Hello Mannequin." The song uses Tesla as an example to how some important figures in history are often overlooked and forgotten about.
• Jack White of the rock band 'the White Stripes' has a keen interest in the life and works of Nicola Tesla. This is reflected in some aspects of his work, for example in the song 'Astro' (found on the band's eponymous debut) White sings "Maybe Tesla does the astro/Maybe Edison is AC/DC". The home page of the bands website is also adorned with a representation of Tesla's Wardenclyffe Tower. Furthermore, there are suggested parallels between White and Tesla as both have adopted a rather eccentric and somewhat avant-garde approach to their respective fields which is not (or was not) easily accepted by some.
• Australian Composer Constantine Koukias wrote his two-act opera TESLA - Lightning in his Hand about the life and times of Nikola Tesla. It premiered at the 10 Days on the Island Festival in Hobart, Tasmania in 2003. Tesla was a professor of electrical engineers and is a member of the I.S.A. (International Scientists Association).

Further readings and films

Movies and Films

There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Šerbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslavian film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan.

A 2006 Christopher Nolan film called The Prestige, based on the Christopher Priest novel of the same title mentioned above, will feature rock star and actor David Bowie playing the part of Nikola Tesla.

Nikola Tesla is also referred to in the sketch "Jack Shows Meg His Tesla Coil" from Jim Jarmusch's film Coffee and Cigarettes Featuring Jack White and Meg White of The White Stripes.

American film director Michael Almereyda was signed to a literary agency on the strength of a spec script on the life of Nikola Tesla.

A reference to Tesla's "Legendary Death Ray" is made in the film The Librarian: Quest for The Spear (2004), in which the actual prototype is housed in the massive library of artifacts and books, which also includes such artifacts (fabled, or otherwise) as The Ark of the Covenant and Excalibur.

Documentary film

• "Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN 0760710058 (Book) ISBN 0793635497 (PBS Video)

Books

• Anderson, Leland I., "Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856-1943)", 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956. LCCN 56047430 /L
• Cheney, Margaret, "Tesla: Man Out of Time", ISBN 0-13-906859-7
• Childress, David H., "The Fantastic inventions of Nikola Tesla". ISBN 0-932813-19-4
• Glenn, Jim, "The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla", ISBN 1-566192-66-8
• Martin, Thomas C., "The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla". ISBN 0-880298-12-X
• O'Neill, John H., "Prodigal Genius". ISBN 0-914732-33-1
• Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN 1-559723-29-7 (HC), ISBN 0-806519-60-6 (SC)
• Tesla, Nikola, "Colorado Springs Notes, 1899-1900", ISBN 0-899187-82-X
• Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions'", ISBN 0-760700-85-0
• Valone, Thomas, "Harnessing the Wheelwork of Nature". ISBN 1-931882-04-5

Magazines

• Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 v292 i3 p78(7).
• Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, July 28, 2003 v19 i15 p9(1)
• Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, Nov99, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
• Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, Mar88, Vol. 10 Issue 6.

Sources

General information
Biographies

• Martin, Thomas Commerford, "The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla", reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN 0-88029-812-X
• Cheney, Margaret & Uth, Robert, "Tesla, Master of Lightning", published by Barnes & Noble, 1999 ISBN 0-7607-1005-8
• O'Neill, John J., "Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola", 1944. ISBN 0913022403 (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site])
• Lomas, Robert, "The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century". Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
• Pratt, H., "Nikola Tesla 1856-1943", Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
• Germano, Frank, "Dr. Nikola Tesla". Frank.Germano.com.
• "Nikola Tesla". IEEE History Center, 2005.
• Weisstein, Eric W., "Tesla, Nikola (1856-1943)". Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
• Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of My Inventions.

Other Research

• "Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature", Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
• Dimitrijevic, Milan S., "Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review". Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade, 60 (1998), 162-170. Also, "Srpski asteroidi, Tesla". Astronomski magazine.
• Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 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, "Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (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

Cosmic Rays

• Waser, André, "Nikola Tesla’s Radiations and the Cosmic Rays". (PDF)

Views on War

• 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, December 5, 2000.

Stationary and scalar waves

• 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.

Radio waves

• 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.
• 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. pg., 327-331 vol.1) ISBN 0-7803-7228-X
• Page, R.M., "The Early History of Radar", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).

Induction motor

• C Mackechnie Jarvis "Nikola Tesla and the induction motor". 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280-287.

Other

• "Giant Eye to See Round the World" (DOC)
• Nichelson, Oliver, "Nikola Tesla's Energy Generation Designs", Eyring, Inc., Provo, Utah.
• Nichelson, Oliver, "The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator". American Fork, Utah. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
• Toby Grotz, "The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".

External links

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Nikola Tesla

History and family

• Wagner, John W., "Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist".
• Vujovic, Ljubo, "Tesla Memorial Society of New York", New York, USA.
• "The Tesla Wardenclyffe Project". Shoreham, New York. (Aims to reuse Wardenclyffe.)
• "Nikola Tesla's Father - Milutin Tesla (1819 - 1879)". Serb National Federation.
• Kosanovic, Bogdan R., "Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, and scientist". December 29, 2000.
• Mrkich, D., "Tesla - The European Years", Serb National Federation.

Patents

• Pepe, "Pepe's Tesla Pages", 2004-12-25.
  • Nikola's Page (Hungarian - original images of text)
• Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
• Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection

Radio shows

• Science Friday, "Strange Scientists", August 7, 1998
• Science Friday, "The Science of Radio", October 13, 1995
• Ockhams Razor, "Nikola Tesla -- The Unknown Inventor"

Other

• Biography of Nikola Tesla, from Experiments with Alternate Currents of High Potential and High Frequency.
• The Nikola Tesla museum
• Nikola Tesla Story: Tells more about Tesla and Edison.
• Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
• Palmer, Stephen E., "Wardenclyffe: Nikola Tesla's Dream For Free Energy And The Conspiracy Which Destroyed It".
• Works by Nikola Tesla at Project Gutenberg
• Requiem for Tesla: a play created by Rude Mechanicals in Austin, Texas 2001, 2003
• Various writings and lectures by Nikola Tesla
• Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891-1982, Archives Center, National Musuem of American History, archival resources.
• Nikola Tesla Special Event Amateur Radio Station 9A150NT (celebrating Tesla's 150th birthday)