Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) (http://www.electricitybook.com/nikola-tesla-birthday/)

In our day to day life, when you turn on or turn off lights at home, school, or work, would it remind you of some one? Maybe most people will say “Thomas Edison, the greatest inventor ever, he invented the bulb.” However, how many people know that, beyond the bulbs, the way the electricity is sent to our place today, was invented by Edison’s biggest adversary? Yes, that’s alternating current and Nikola Tesla. Nowadays, the former is being used in the world everywhere all the time but the latter is still infamous for the world except for those physics students. Being Edison’s biggest adversary does not make Tesla ignoble but one of the most remarkable scientist, inventor and engineer. In my opinion, Nikola Tesla is a real hero because he insisted on studying science, he had great imagination and creativeness in different fields, and he made brilliant contributions to the modern society.

Born in Smiljan, a small village in Austrian Empire, on July 10 1856, Nikola Tesla studied electrical engineering and the application of alternating current at Austrian Polytechnic, but he never graduated, claimed by the school. He moved to Paris, France, in 1882, in which unfortunately, his mother went away, two years after he lost his father. He went to the United States of America in 1884 and it was the start of his conspicuous life. He obtained more than 1000 patents in the field of science and engineering, of which most are still being used today. He also came up with ideas, such as electronic microscope, laser, television and mobile phone. He is a great contributor not only to the particular fields but to the human being’s life.

Egg of Columbus (http://drinkthis.typepad.com/tesla/2009/11/nikola-tesla-badass.html)

Tesla’s insistence on studying science makes him great. In his book, it is said that Thomas Edison offered him 50000 US dollar, which is over 1 million dollars in 2007, considered inflation, to improve his motor and generator but when Tesla finished this work after a year, Edison broke his word, saying “Tesla, you don’t understand our American humor”. Tesla resigned after this and being refused to raise his salary. Soon afterward, he started his own business. However his plan for alternating current motor was not agreed by the investors and he was dismissed out of the company. At that time, Tesla had to work as a normal blue-collar worker to earn his living. However, Tesla did not yield for financial difficulties and meantime, he also raised money for his following project. Finally, he put forward the principle of Tesla Coil and he continued his working and researching with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse’s lab. Furthermore, he was also defamed by Edison for completion between direct currents and alternating currents, and he had sold many research equipments to pay for debts in his later years. He also faced difficulties in business, in a harmless but most significant war in history, the “war of currents”. It was a competition between direct currents, whose main advocator is Thomas Edison, and alternating currents, supported by George Westinghouse and his partner Nikola Tesla. Edison tried to defame alternating currents and his employee made a movie filming killing an elephant with high-voltage alternating currents, which lead to the invention of the electronic chair. Nevertheless, Tesla fought back in a smart and shocking way. He designed a device named “Egg of Columbus”, on which, described by a biographer, Tesla stood, letting currents go through his body, to prove the safety of alternating currents when it was not used for illegal purposes. Although it was for a commercial contest, these factors also showed Tesla’s insistence in science since he developed many other principles during it as well. It was admirable that Tesla had never submitted to these troubles, whether they were about commerce or science.

A Tesla Christmas Tree (http://technabob.com/blog/2009/12/22/tesla-coil-christmas-tree/)

Like other talented scientists, Tesla also had a clever mind. He is so clever that he was called crazy at that time. One of the biggest goals in Tesla’s life was to realize transferring energy or resources in wireless way. In 1911, he wrote it in the book that, if this plan had come true, people could hear live speeches or concerts wherever they were. No matter how long the distance was, pictures, sounds and words could have been sent accurately to anywhere. Surprisingly, this is exactly the origin of the internet! He was also capable of making his imaginations come true, for example, he was able to produce a 100 million-volt electronic generator while even today it is very tough to produce a 3 million-volt one. Early as 19th century, he had already thought about the things that we are using today, such as cell phones and televisions. More crazily, he even came up with controlling creatures’ mind and consciousness, manipulating weathers, gaining electric power from air, transferring electrics wirelessly and manufacturing laser weapons, as well as the primary or thorough theory of them. Nikola Tesla was a creative talent. He made so many inventions that he was considered a superman in mind by peers. His imagination and creativeness turned him into an extraordinary person whose glory and fortunes lead him to being suppressed by the haters and jealous people.

Nikola Tesla (http://www.yurope.com/org/tesla/)

Think about our life, Tesla’s inventions and contributions are everywhere. As it has been mentioned many times, alternating currents are being applied in our life all the time and its application is developed and promoted by Nikola Tesla. Thanks to him, we can use electronic power with low cost on transferring and generating and high safety when it is used. Besides this, X-ray machines used in hospital or airport, spark plugs used in cars to turn on internal combustion machines, speedometers in cars to measure speed, electronic clock which is popular among teens and the power meters used in science studying, are all invented by Nikola Tesla. He even has more patents than Thomas Edison, the well-recognized great inventor, but he lived in a indigent life most of his life. He patented most of his inventions but unlike Edison, he did not sell them or make profits from them while many other businessmen were plagiarizing his inventions to make money out of it. When he was dying, he was still involved in heavy liabilities but he still turned down hundreds of proposals trying to purchase his patent of alternating currents generators. Tesla made too many grand contributions to human beings, but he just asked for a few in return. His contribution to the world is priceless, as well as his selflessness.

When someone is judged whether he is a hero, fortune and reputation are the first thing for almost everyone to consider and this is blind to many people’s eyes. Many real heroes are covered underneath the history because of their birth, wealth and fame. Tesla is one of these forsaken people. Among the populace, they cannot tell who Nikola Tesla was and what he did, though he and his work are famous in physics and engineering area. On the other hand, his biggest adversary, Thomas Edison, who actually was quite ignoble, is being treated in a totally different way. But this ignorance cannot change the fact that Nikola Tesla is a hero. His insistence in studying science, his imagination and creativeness, and his enormous contribution to human indicate that his name of hero comes from real distinction.