Nikola Tesla

"Just as he lit up the face of the planet, so he lit up each and every man from within. He is a phenomenon out of both his own time and our time." said Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic ("InSerbia News"). Nikola Tesla is actually more interesting in our time. We have a newfound appreciation for the technology he created. Nikola Tesla was born July 9, 1856. He was born in Smiljan in the Lika province of Croatia (then part of Austria-Hungary). He was the son of second of two sons and fourth of five children of Milutin Tesla, a Serbian Orthodox clergyman, and his wife, Djouka (Georgina) Mandich. His mom was an inventor, she invented small kitchen appliances. Tesla studied math and engineering at the University of Graz and philosophy at the University of Prague. He was especially interested in electricity. In 1881 he took a job in Paris as an electrical engineer. He designed equipment and repaired power systems. It was during this time when Tesla first developed the "brushless" motor, which would revolutionize the electric industry. A hero who is an inventor must possess ingenuity and be a revolutionary in his field. Nikola Tesla was both. Tesla had an impactful amount of ingenuity and shared his revolutionary knowledge with the world, and because of this he is a hero.

Nikola Tesla, with his ingenuity, took what Edison invented and made it better and more efficient. Tesla often thought about many inventions at one time. If he could not finish an invention, he would start another and, while working on the next project, the solution for the first would come to him. Many inventions were the beginning of technologies that are used today. "It was Tesla, not Marconi, who invented radio. He also harnessed Niagara Falls for hydropower and invented, among many other things, a bladeless steam turbine, the first remote-controlled torpedoes and devices that had applications in missile defense and computers, long after his death in 1943," (Rather). These kinds of inventions were important for modern technology. Tesla invented many power sources that we still use today, Just like the hydropower that works in Niagara Falls. All of these power sources that Nikola Tesla invented have proved very useful even now; for example, his high-voltage transmission system is able to safely transfer high levels of power from point A to point B. Nikola Tesla built and successfully tested a high-voltage transmission system and experimented with the production of artificial lightning. "In addition to providing all the power and light at the fair, Tesla gave lectures and demonstrated a number of his inventions, most notably a metal egg that he used to show that magnetic fields could be made to rotate. The egg would stand up and spin like a top on its narrow end when placed within the rotating field. This toy illustrated the principle of the induction motor--one of the few of Tesla's inventions that are ubiquitous today," (Johnson ). Tesla was a person others wanted to work with,  for instance, George Westinghouse, who wanted to be a part of  the electric industry. Tesla created a way of measurement and, more importantly, a way to measure magnetic fields and how they would rotate. Without Tesla, we would not have a system which transmits power to where it needs to go and we wouldn't have power to use any of our modern day technology. This is heroic because without his inventions, firefighters would not be able to save people from cars that require to be cutting with an electric saw powered by the batteries Tesla invented.

His inventions revolutionized electricity and technology. In his pursuit of creating safe and efficient power, he showed that the alternating current power system Edison tried to prove was unsafe, actually ended up being more safe and efficient than Edison's methods. "In perfecting the alternating-current power system now used around the world, Tesla prevailed over Thomas Edison, who believed in an inferior direct-current system and strove in vain to prove that alternating current (AC) was unsafe," (Rather). This proves that he is revolutionary because he proved Edison wrong by using the alternating-current power system that Edison said was not safe, but now we use it all around the world without any major dangers. The alternating-current power system is an efficient way of distributing electricity. He further demonstrated his revolutionary skills by showing off his inventions at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893. "Tesla exhibited some of his recent inventions at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893-whose buildings and grounds were illuminated by means of his polyphase alternating-current system--and the following year he received honorary doctorates from Columbia and Yale," ("Nikola Tesla").  Nikola Tesla is revolutionary because he made AC power, which is what we still use today.

People noticed how he was revolutionary during that time to when he received honorary doctorates from Columbia and Yale. Not only did Tesla strive to make a safe and efficient way to produce and transfer power, but he also excelled over Thomas Edison, who was older than him. This is heroic because before Tesla invented power, we did not have any way to plug in our computers or internet to use our computers with and Tesla made that possible.

Tesla had an innovative way of thinking and with his knowledge, he showed the world a safe way of delivering efficient power. That is why he is a hero. Tesla, an inventor and genius, made all sorts of different inventions throughout his time and created innovative technology that works in our lives today and proves very useful and efficient. Tesla is inspirational because he gave electric power to the people in the twentieth century, which is a very honorable thing to do and that people admired him for. Overall, Tesla is a very big deal. People don't realize that, without him, they would not be able to use their iPhones, laptops, computers and any other electronics dependent on a charge from an outlet. This would be tragic for me because I am very dependent on my iPhone to wake me up every morning and to stay up to date on social media.

Works Cited

"InSerbia News." InSerbia News. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 May 2016.

Johnson, Jeff. "Nikola Tesla: genius, visionary, and eccentric." Skeptical Inquirer Summer 1994:

368+.Biography in Context. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.

"Nikola Tesla." Dictionary of American Biography. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973.

Biography in Context. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.

"Nikola Tesla." World of Invention. Gale, 2006. Biography in Context. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.

Rather, John. "Tesla, a Little-Recognized Genius, Left Mark in Shoreham." New York Times 10

Nov. 2002: 4. Biography in Context. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.