Nikola Tesla invented the electric generator, the electric motor, fluorescent lighting, alternating current (AC) and devised the technologies that generate and deliver our electrical power for our homes, schools and factories. So why didn't I ever learn about Tesla in school -- the same way I learned about Thomas Edison, Marconi and Einstein? Because he was not from British, French, Germany and so called European nation, same story as of Indian Scientists.
The story about Nikola Tesla is the story of a genius who was largely disrespected and his ideas were stolen by other scientists and inventors
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Born to a Serbian family on July 9th, 1856 in Smiljan, Croatia (former Yugoslavia), Nikola Tesla was a dreamer with a poetic touch. Tesla could visualize inventions in his mind, and execute these plans without the need for a blueprint or meticulous calculations.Tesla attended the Technical University at Graz, Austria, and the University of Prague. Tesla had a vision of electromagnetic fields that was real and tangible, at a time when most engineers considered electrical current as an intangible and ethereal mystery. Later, at Budapest, he visualized the principle of the rotating magnetic field and developed plans for an induction motor that would become his first step toward the successful utilization of alternating current. An eccentric genius, Tesla had few friends and remained solitary. He use to live in hotels in a New York. After Tesla's death the Federal Bureau of Investigation took note of Tesla's proposals for advanced weapons systems and searched his papers for information about reports of his death ray machine as world conflict was impending. Weapon of Total Destruction.
Tesla's discovery of the rotating magnetic field produced by the interactions of two and three phase alternating currents in a motor winding was one of his most significant achievements of the century, and formed the basis of his induction motor and polyphase system for the generation and distribution of electricity.
In 1882, before his arrival in America, Tesla went to work in Paris for the Continental Edison Company, and, while on assignment to Strassburg in 1883, he constructed, in after-work hours, his first induction motor. Tesla sailed for America in 1884, arriving in New York, with four cents in his pocket, a few of his own poems, and calculations for a flying machine. He first found employment with Thomas Edison, who had been his first employer in Paris, but the two inventors were far apart in background and methods, and their separation was inevitable.Tesla continued to work on his inventions, and seizing a momentous opportunity, George Westinghouse purchased some of Tesla's patents in 1888. For a mere $60,000($5,000 in cash and 150 shares of stock), Westinghouse acquired the patent for Tesla's polyphase alternating current technology. Tesla's reputation spread when Westinghouse won the contract to supply the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 with electricity. In 1895, the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company and General Electric Company joined forces to harness the power of Niagara Falls with electricity, using Tesla's technology.Tesla's generation of electricity resulted in what is known as alternating current, or AC. In alternating current the polarity and strength of the energy is continuously changing or alternating. Prior to Tesla's innovation, the Edison company was promoting direct current, or DC, as a safer way to power both homes and factories. In fact, Edison, despite knowing that Tesla's AC was superior, mounted an ugly publicity stunts designed to discredit Tesla and to save Edison's own financial investment in DC.
Tesla won because alternating current could react with coils of wire (transformers) to increase or decrease the voltage, electricity could be produced at high power levels at the generation stations and then reduced just prior to being distributed locally. Even today three-phase form of Tesla's polyphase system is still used for the generation and transmission of most electricity with updated versions of Tesla's three-phase and split phase motors.
Tesla's experiments with high frequency and high potential alternating currents resulted in the development of the "Tesla coil." This device is a transformer with an air core that has both its primary and secondary tuned in resonance. As part of other experiments Tesla also developed the precursors of modern neon and florescent lights. He constructed these lights, elongated glass tubes filled with gas and coated with phosphor, excited in his high voltage experiments. He also discovered that high voltage current could be made harmless by using an alternating current scheme at very large frequencies.Returning to New York in 1900, Tesla began construction on Long Island of a wireless world broadcasting tower, with $150,000 capital from the American financier J. Pierpont Morgan. Tesla claimed he secured the loan by assigning 51 percent of his patent rights of telephony and telegraphy to Morgan. He expected to provide worldwide communication and to furnish facilities for sending pictures, messages, weather warnings, and stock reports. The project was abandoned because of a financial panic, labor troubles, and Morgan's withdrawal of support. It was Tesla's greatest defeat.
Tesla also envisioned a way to send electricity through the air and through the Earth so that electrical power would be available everywhere, even in remote corners of the planet. This technology, which was only understood by Tesla himself, was incorporated in another famous experiment in 1908, where Tesla attempted to remotely light up the sky over the North Pole as a way of demonstrating this wireless power transmission technology to the world. At the time, Admiral Peary was leading an expedition to the Arctic and Tesla hoped that Peary would report on the phenomenon when he returned. Many believe that Tesla's experiment that evening caused the world's largest man made explosion in the remote Siberian village of Tungusta. Read more about that HERE. If Tesla's power beam really did accidentally cause the Tungusta explosion, then we witnessed the first experimental use of the same weapon system has been developed by the US Department of Defense in Alaska's remote Poker Flats area, just North of Fairbanks. (See HAARP: A weapon of Total Destruction.) Although the capacity for destruction in Tesla's primitive prototype (some estimate equal to a large hydrogen bomb) was huge, this new military system is almost surely many magnitudes greater. Also, many similar systems have been deployed in a dozen specific locations around the globe -- presumably to be operated together for some undisclosed purpose. One can only hope that this new technology will be used for a peaceful purpose and that it will bring the respect for Tesla that has so far eluded him.
Tesla's discovery of the rotating magnetic field produced by the interactions of two and three phase alternating currents in a motor winding was one of his most significant achievements of the century, and formed the basis of his induction motor and polyphase system for the generation and distribution of electricity.In 1882, before his arrival in America, Tesla went to work in Paris for the Continental Edison Company, and, while on assignment to Strassburg in 1883, he constructed, in after-work hours, his first induction motor. Tesla sailed for America in 1884, arriving in New York, with four cents in his pocket, a few of his own poems, and calculations for a flying machine. He first found employment with Thomas Edison, who had been his first employer in Paris, but the two inventors were far apart in background and methods, and their separation was inevitable.Tesla continued to work on his inventions, and seizing a momentous opportunity, George Westinghouse purchased some of Tesla's patents in 1888. For a mere $60,000($5,000 in cash and 150 shares of stock), Westinghouse acquired the patent for Tesla's polyphase alternating current technology. Tesla's reputation spread when Westinghouse won the contract to supply the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 with electricity. In 1895, the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company and General Electric Company joined forces to harness the power of Niagara Falls with electricity, using Tesla's technology.Tesla's generation of electricity resulted in what is known as alternating current, or AC. In alternating current the polarity and strength of the energy is continuously changing or alternating. Prior to Tesla's innovation, the Edison company was promoting direct current, or DC, as a safer way to power both homes and factories. In fact, Edison, despite knowing that Tesla's AC was superior, mounted an ugly publicity stunts designed to discredit Tesla and to save Edison's own financial investment in DC.Edison started propaganda campaigns against AC that is was dangerous. Nicknamed the "death current" by Edison, public demonstrations were staged in which animals were brutally electrocuted with AC, including an elephant, which were recorded by Edison and shown at public .
Tesla won because alternating current could react with coils of wire (transformers) to increase or decrease the voltage, electricity could be produced at high power levels at the generation stations and then reduced just prior to being distributed locally. Even today three-phase form of Tesla's polyphase system is still used for the generation and transmission of most electricity with updated versions of Tesla's three-phase and split phase motors.
Tesla's experiments with high frequency and high potential alternating currents resulted in the development of the "Tesla coil." This device is a transformer with an air core that has both its primary and secondary tuned in resonance. As part of other experiments Tesla also developed the precursors of modern neon and florescent lights. He constructed these lights, elongated glass tubes filled with gas and coated with phosphor, excited in his high voltage experiments. He also discovered that high voltage current could be made harmless by using an alternating current scheme at very large frequencies.Returning to New York in 1900, Tesla began construction on Long Island of a wireless world broadcasting tower, with $150,000 capital from the American financier J. Pierpont Morgan. Tesla claimed he secured the loan by assigning 51 percent of his patent rights of telephony and telegraphy to Morgan. He expected to provide worldwide communication and to furnish facilities for sending pictures, messages, weather warnings, and stock reports. The project was abandoned because of a financial panic, labor troubles, and Morgan's withdrawal of support. It was Tesla's greatest defeat. The Supreme Court granted full rights to Tesla for the invention of radio, nullifying the claims of Marchese Gugliemo MarconiIn 1943, the US Supreme Court granted full rights to Tesla for the invention of radio, nullifying the claims of Marchese Gugliemo Marconi who had patented a two-tuned-circuit design and a more practical four-tuned-circuit modeled after Tesla's. Marconi's patent on the invention of radio was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court because Tesla's work predated it (Case #369, 6/21/43). Marconi did succeed in beating Tesla as the first person to send a wireless telegraph across the Atlantic, which prompted Tesla to remark, "Let him continue. He is using seventeen of my patents." In addition, Tesla's 1903 patents 723,188 and 725,605 contain the basic principles of the logical AND circuit element basic to all computers.
Tesla also envisioned a way to send electricity through the air and through the Earth so that electrical power would be available everywhere, even in remote corners of the planet. This technology, which was only understood by Tesla himself, was incorporated in another famous experiment in 1908, where Tesla attempted to remotely light up the sky over the North Pole as a way of demonstrating this wireless power transmission technology to the world. At the time, Admiral Peary was leading an expedition to the Arctic and Tesla hoped that Peary would report on the phenomenon when he returned. Many believe that Tesla's experiment that evening caused the world's largest man made explosion in the remote Siberian village of Tungusta. Read more about that HERE. If Tesla's power beam really did accidentally cause the Tungusta explosion, then we witnessed the first experimental use of the same weapon system has been developed by the US Department of Defense in Alaska's remote Poker Flats area, just North of Fairbanks. (See HAARP: A weapon of Total Destruction.) Although the capacity for destruction in Tesla's primitive prototype (some estimate equal to a large hydrogen bomb) was huge, this new military system is almost surely many magnitudes greater. Also, many similar systems have been deployed in a dozen specific locations around the globe -- presumably to be operated together for some undisclosed purpose. One can only hope that this new technology will be used for a peaceful purpose and that it will bring the respect for Tesla that has so far eluded him.
Alternating Current vs. Direct CurrentAC has other advantages:
Thomas A. Edison started selling DC electricity which is hard to carry long distance until Tesla conceived and built the first working alternating current generator. He, and he alone, is responsible for all of the advantages we enjoy today because of A.C. electric power.Angered by Edison, Tesla sold his new patents to George Westinghouse for 15 million dollars in the very early 1900's. Tesla established his lab in 5th Avenue in New York City.George Westinghouse began to market this new system of electric generators and was in competition with Edison. Westinghouse prevailed because of the greater superiority of the A.C. generators over the less efficient D.C. power supplies of Thomas Edison.. DC batteries require recharging every night and the range of travel was restricted to about 100 miles. So, somewhere around 1915 or so, the electric automobile became a memory. The U.S. Patent Office has 1,200 patents registered in the name of Nikola Tesla. in 1931, under the financing of Pierce-Arrow and George Westinghouse, a 1931 Pierce-Arrow was selected to be tested at the factory grounds in Buffalo, N.Y. The standard internal combustion engine was removed and an 80-H.P. 1800 r.p.m electric motor installed to the clutch and transmission. The A.C. motor measured 40 inches long and 30 inches in diameter and the power leads were left standing in the air - no external power source!At the appointed time, Nikola Tesla arrived from New York City and inspected the Pierce-Arrow automobile. He then went to a local radio store and purchased a handful of tubes (12), wires and assorted resistors. A box measuring 24 inches long, 12 inches wide and 6 inches high was assembled housing the circuit. The box was placed on the front seat and had its wires connected to the air-cooled, brushless motor. Two rods 1/4" in diameter stuck out of the box about 3" in length.Mr. Tesla got into the driver's seat, pushed the two rods in and stated, "We now have power". He put the car into gear and it moved forward! This vehicle, powered by an A.C. motor, was driven to speeds of 90 m.p.h. and performed better than any internal combustion engine of its day! One week was spent testing the vehicle. Several newspapers in Buffalo reported this test. When asked where the power came from, Tesla replied, "From the ethers all around us". Several people suggested that Tesla was mad and somehow in league with sinister forces of the universe. He became incensed, removed his mysterious box from the vehicle and returned to his laboratory in New York City. His secret died with him!It is speculated that Nikola Tesla was able to somehow harness the earth's magnetic field that encompasses our planet. And, he somehow was able to draw tremendous amounts of power by cutting these lines of force or causing them to be multiplied together. The exact nature of his device remains a mystery but it did actually function by powering the 80 h.p. A.C. motor in the Pierce-Arrow at speeds up to 90 m.p.h. and no recharging was ever necessary! where he tested his death ray.Tesla's Death Ray Tesla produced remote-controlled boats and submarines. He demonstrated the wireless ship at an exposition in Madison Square Garden in 1898. The automaton apparatus was so advanced, it used a form of voice recognition to respond to the verbal commands of Tesla and volunteers from the audience. Tesla went to USA military to sell his proposed invention, without success so he went to J. P. Morgan. who offered to manufacture Tesla's vessels, but only if Tesla would agree to marry Morgan's daughter. Tesla landed a successful military contract -- with the German Marine High Command for sea craft, with sophisticated turbines which Admiral von Tirpitz used to great success in his fleet of warships.Upon the outbreak of World War I, Tesla chose to forfeit his German royalties, lest he be charged with treason. Nearly broke, and finding the United States on the brink of war, Tesla dreamed up a new invention that might interest the military: the "DEATH RAY". The mechanism behind Tesla's death ray is not well understood. It was apparently some sort of particle accelerator. Tesla said it was an outgrowth of his magnifying transformer, which focused its energy output into a thin beam so concentrated it would not scatter, even over huge distances. He promoted the device as a purely defensive weapon, intended to knock down incoming attacks At the time, Robert Peary was making his second attempt to reach the North Pole. Cryptically, Tesla had notified the expedition that he would be trying to contact them somehow. They were to report to him the details of anything unusual they might witness on the open tundra. On the evening of June 30, accompanied by his associate George Scherff atop Wardenclyffe tower, Tesla aimed his death ray across the Atlantic towards the arctic, to a spot which he calculated was west of the Peary expedition. Tesla switched on the device. At first, it was hard to tell if it was even working. Its extremity emitted a dim light that was barely visible. Then an owl flew from its perch on the tower's pinnacle, soaring into the path of the beam. The bird disintegrated instantly. That concluded the test. Tesla watched the newspapers and sent telegrams to Peary in hopes of confirming the death ray's effectiveness. Nothing turned up. Tesla was ready to admit failure when news came of a strange event in Siberia. On June 30, a massive explosion had devastated Tunguska, a remote area in the Siberian wilderness. Five hundred thousand square acres of land had been instantly destroyed. Equivalent to ten to fifteen megatons of TNT, the Tunguska incident is the most powerful explosion to have occurred in human history -- not even subsequent thermonuclear detonations have surpassed it. The explosion was audible from 620 miles away. Scientists believe it was caused by either a meteorite or a fragment of a comet, although no obvious impact site or mineral remnants of such an object were ever found. Nikola Tesla SAID THAT IT WAS HIS death ray had overshot its intended target and destroyed Tunguska. He was thankful beyond measure that the explosion had -- miraculously -- killed no one. Tesla dismantled the death ray at once, deeming it too dangerous to remain in existence. A generation later, a new invention exactly like this helped the Allies win World War II. It was called radar |
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