Nikola Tesla is considered one of the fathers of energy, and certainly of electricity, though he’s not the only one on that particular Mount Rushmore.
You’ve almost certainly heard of the name Tesla — he’s a popular cultural figure in television, movies, video games, and even electric cars.
But while many will be familiar with the name, few are well-acquainted with the inventor Nikola Tesla and his incredible legacy as an electrical engineer. Read on to learn who Nikola Tesla was, what his energy contributions were, and how his inventions helped pioneer the field of electricity.
Where Was Nikola Tesla From?
Like any good story, we’ll start from the beginning of Tesla’s life. Nikola Tesla was born in 1856 in Smiljan, a town in modern-day Croatia that was then part of the Austrian Empire. He and his parents were ethnically Serbian, and his father was a Serbian Orthodox priest.
From an early age Nikola Tesla demonstrated a unique ability to visualize images and objects in his head, down to the smallest detail, a trait called eidetic memory. This visual imagination was so strong that “at times he could not differentiate between images and reality.” He used this imagination to invent machines in his mind, a trait that would come to define his life’s work.
What Did Nikola Tesla Do Before Moving to the United States?
He attended the Austrian Polytechnic school in Graz, Austria, where he took a keen interest in everything to do with electricity. After three years he left Graz without a degree due to low grades. He briefly audited classes at the University of Prague, but again left without any degree.
In 1881 he moved to Budapest, Hungary to work for the Budapest Telephone Exchange, a telegraph company. A year later he moved to Paris and began work for the Continental Edison Company, installing electric lighting indoors. He also worked as a troubleshooter for the company, working to help fix broken dynamos as needed.
Three years later, Nikola Tesla moved to New York City to work for the Edison Machine Works, an electrical engineering shop operated by Thomas Edison located in Manhattan. Nikola Tesla would go on to call the United States home, eventually becoming a Serbian-American citizen.
Why Did Nikola Tesla Quit Working for Thomas Edison?
Nikola Tesla spent just six months working in Thomas Edison’s machine shop before quitting. The circumstances around his resignation are debated amongst historians, but it’s clear that he was upset with Thomas Edison when, after Nikola Tesla spent months creating a working system for arc lighting, Thomas Edison decided not to use his designs, as they were incompatible with direct current (more on this later). when, after Nikola Tesla spent months creating a working system for arc lighting, Thomas Edison decided not to use his designs, as they were incompatible with direct current (more on this later).
There are stories that Nikola Tesla was particularly upset about not being paid a bonus for his work for Thomas Edison. Whatever the specific reason for his departure, it’s clear that he and Thomas Edison didn’t work well together, and in the ensuing years they would come to form an intense rivalry and personal dislike for one another.
Tara Moves With You
Moving? Take your Tara Energy services with you at no additional cost.
How Did Nikola Tesla Fund His Inventions?
After arriving in New York City and leaving Thomas Edison’s company, Nikola Tesla went on to establish himself as one of the country’s most influential inventors. However, he needed money to fund his ideas.
Nikola Tesla worked hard to find investors for his projects, and his two best-known backers were George Westinghouse and J.P. Morgan. J.P. Morgan was a particularly wealthy investor who helped Tesla construct a facility on Long Island called Wardenclyffe.
Wardenclyffe was meant to be a tower capable of wireless transmission across the Atlantic Ocean, but J.P. Morgan pulled his funding before Nikola Tesla was able to complete the Long Island project.
Why Is Nikola Tesla Important?
source
Now that we know where Nikola Tesla came from, what his history with Thomas Edison was, and how he funded his projects, it’s time to dive into why he’s remembered as one of the most important American inventors in history.
Induction Motor
Nikola Tesla’s most important and perhaps best-known invention was the induction motor — more specifically, the alternating current (AC) commutator-free polyphase induction motor (what a mouthful!). In layman’s terms, Nikola Tesla’s motor used electrical currents to generate rotating magnetic fields, which turned a motor.
Nikola Tesla’s AC motor was a simpler design than his predecessors’, and could start on its own while also requiring less maintenance.
AC Power Transmission
Nikola Tesla’s knowledge of AC power has had a lasting impact on our modern power grid. This is because of a key difference between alternating current (AC power) and direct current (DC power). AC power enabled high-voltage transmission of electricity over long distances, an important innovation because at the time, direct current could transmit electricity “no more than 100 yards.”
Nikola Tesla’s expertise with AC systems was consulted when engineers were constructing the hydroelectric power plant in Niagara Falls, and thanks to his advice the Niagara Falls hydroelectric power plant was able to transmit its electricity over long distances. His contributions to the plant are commemorated by a statue of Nikola Tesla that can be found at Niagara Falls today.
How Many Inventions Did Nikola Tesla Make?
source
The induction motor wasn’t Nikola Tesla’s only invention, though — far from it. He obtained more than 300 patents during his many decades as an inventor, and these inventions spanned a variety of different uses, although most had to do with electricity. Let’s walk through some of Tesla’s more notable inventions.
Tesla Coil
The Tesla coil is an electrical circuit invented by Nikola Tesla (hence the name) that can be used to produce high-voltage AC power. Nikola Tesla used Tesla coils in many of his experiments, including some massively powerful coils he set up in Colorado Springs.
Today, Tesla coils are typically used for entertainment, often found in science museums. If you’ve ever seen a glass sphere with electric bolts arcing away from it, that was a Tesla coil.
X-Rays
Nikola Tesla was also quite interested in experimenting with X-rays, using the power from a Tesla coil to produce X-ray images.
Wireless Lighting
Nikola Tesla was famous at the time for his exhibitions in which he would demonstrate the ability to transmit electric power over long distances. He would often stand on one end of a stage with a Tesla coil and power light bulbs across the stage, demonstrating wireless power transmission.
He demonstrated this invention, along with the AC power system, at the World’s Columbian Exposition (also known as the World’s Fair) in Chicago in 1893 to much fanfare. His main investor at the time, George Westinghouse, saw this as an important milestone for the AC system on which he had based his business (Westinghouse Electric).
Radio Remote Control
In 1898, Nikola Tesla invented a remote-controlled boat and was able to steer and control its throttle through radio waves during an exhibition at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan.
Did Nikola Tesla or Thomas Edison Invent Electricity?
Neither American inventor invented electricity, but both were instrumental in the growth of the electricity industry, especially in the late 19th century. Interestingly, each man pursued a distinct path in the electricity field.
Thomas Edison was most interested in direct current (DC) electricity, a type of electricity that flows in one direction, and that Thomas Edison preferred because he used it at low voltages. Today, DC electricity is found in many of the batteries we use.
Nikola Tesla preferred to work with alternating current (AC) electricity, which is capable of reversing its direction, and at the time of his work was often associated with high-voltage electricity. AC electricity makes up our high-voltage power transmission grids.
Each man helped push the boundaries of the electricity industry, but between Thomas Edison’s DC power and Nikola Tesla’s AC power, the two electrical engineers worked along two different paths.
Your Power, Connected Fast
Call before 12pm CST on move-in day and your power will be flowing same-day.
How Much Did Nikola Tesla Sleep?
Nikola Tesla famously claimed to sleep only two hours each night, although he would doze off occasionally during the day. This was seen as evidence of devotion to his work.
Did Nikola Tesla Invent a Death Ray?
In 1915, Nikola Tesla announced that he had invented a weapon that could destroy over long distances using electricity. Two decades later, in 1934, he touted this electrical weapon, calling it “teleforce,” though the public would refer to it as his “Death Ray.”
In the end, no evidence of this Death Ray was ever produced, and Nikola Tesla died before demonstrating its capability in World War II.
How Should We Remember Nikola Tesla?
Nikola Tesla was a dynamic figure in American history, and his contributions — especially to induction motors and AC power systems — can still be seen today.
More than that though, Nikola Tesla was a showman, and he worked hard to capture the public’s imagination during a time of rapid technological and scientific advances.
From his humble beginning in Smiljan, all the way to his notoriety as a gentleman American inventor in New York City, Nikola Tesla’s relentless pursuit of the inner workings of electricity and electromagnetism helped us understand our world more completely, and his inventions have improved the lives of generations of people around the world.
The next time you see a Tesla electric car zipping down the road, think of all of the work that Nikola Tesla put in towards making electricity a part of our modern life.
And if you’d like to learn more about all things electricity and energy related, check out the Tara Energy blog.
Brought to you by taranergy.com
All images licensed from Adobe Stock.
Featured image
