Brief Summary of Nikola Tesla’s Life and Work

(Salinas Bustillo, Nelson Elías)

ingnelsonsalinas@gmail.com

Summary. – The 10th of July of 1856 in

a small town hidden between the
mountains in the Balkan region, was
born who is today considered as one of
the most influential inventors of all
time; Nikola Tesla. Unique in his way
of understanding the world, ingenious
and creative the same characteristics
admire today but that in his time yield
in a life of unjust and undeserved
miseries. Fluent in eight languages
Hungarian, French, Latin, English,

Czech German and Italian he was a

defender and advocate of a universal

language to mutual understanding.
Tesla is today remembered with a
strange feeling; a mix of both Illustration 1. Nikola Tesla
admiration and sadness. As well as
many great inventors was a man ahead
of his time.
Croatia to assist to the Real
Nikola Tesla was born in Smiljan, Gymnasium of Gospic, there he
Croatia in the year 1856 and lived was influenced by his math teacher
most of his adult life in New York Martin Sekulic. Since little Tesla
where hi died 87 years later in showed a great skill for
1943. Son to Milutin Tesla a priest mathematics and scienc. Later on
of the Orthodox Church and the after his graduation he returned to
fourth of five brothers young Tesla his hometown in Smiljan.
lost his elder brother in a equitation Here when Tesla was 17 years old
accident, death from which blamed he got ill to cholera; a small
himself. In 1861 we assisted to the infection of the small intestine with
Smiljan primary school where he symptoms that can go from none to
studied arithmetic, German and severe that in that time was one of
religion. In 1862 his family moved the pandemic diseases of the era.
to Gospic in the austral empire and Close to death in bed for nine
in 1870 they moved again to months his father who wanted him
to be a priest like himself told him
that if he were to get better he
would ship him to a great
engineering school just like young
Tesla always wanted, he recovered
successfully and so began his way
into the field of engineering.
He studied in the University of
Gratz (Austria) and Prague. Since
his early times in University Tesla
dreamt of giving the world a form
of energy that could be free and
could reach the world. In 1874 he
avoided his recruitment in the
Austral-Hungarian army by fleeing
to Tomingaj near Gracac. In 1875
he got a scholarship to the
Polytechnic School of Graz in
Austria. During his first year he
excel in all of his classes but in his
second year he lost the scholarship
and became an addict to gambling.
During his third year he gamble to
lose his money for the university
fee and never graduated college. In
December of 1878 he left Graz and
cut relationships with his family so
they wouldn’t know about his
deeds. He then moved to Maribor
(today Slovenia) were he worked
as a drawer for 60 florins a month
and spent his time playing cards. In
march of 1879 his mother try to
convince him to come back home
but he refused and in that same
month he was brought back to
Gospic under surveillance for not
having a residency permit. In April
of that same year his mother died
and he went back home to teach at
the local school. In January of
1880 his uncles gathered money to
sent him to Prague were he
intended to study at the University
but unfortunately he got late for
registration. Tesla atended to
clases as a hearer but never got any
grades or a diploma. In 1881 he
moved to Budapest to work for
Ferenc Puskas, there he made a lot
of improvements to the local
electrical station and built a phone
prototype but was never patented.
In 1882 he started working for the
continental Edison Company in
France to design and improve
electrical equipment and in June of
1884 got translated to New York to
work for Edison himself. It was
Edison who in that time and until
his death was a big supporter of the
use of DC current which a few
creations patented himself.
Early on after meeting Edison,
Tesla’s problems with the then
Titan of electrical energy began,
Edison’s dilemma was clear, he
had a great engineer with him with
a great idea, but to support him
would cost him his fame and
money, in the end money and the
desire for power were stronger
motivators for Edison. From
giving him 18 hours of labor a day
or mucking his work and
presenting it as dangerous, it was
one final drop that would shed on
Tesla’s glass; after presenting to
Edison a formula for improving his
engine promised to be paid for 500
dollars, Edison did not only not
pay but also made fun of his idea
while saying “When you become a
true American you will get to
understand a good Yankee joke”.
Tesla had a different way of seeing
the world and an ideology that
science was there to serve the
people and not the other way
around; dangerous ideas back then
and even nowadays. This was
possibly one of the reasons for his
continuous fights and
disagreements with Edison that
will ultimately force him to
abandon the company and
associate with G. Westinghouse
with whom he would develop his
idea for the usage of alternate
current and with whom most of his
most known inventions were
concoction. And so after meeting
George Westinghouse the path was
clear he left Edison’s company and
began his work so AC current
could come on to the big stage.
Between the patents G.
Westinghouse bought was one of
Tesla’s own inventions the
induction engine, for which he paid
5000 dollars in cash and 55000
dollars in stock actions as Tesla
himself tells in his memories.
His next step after his partnership
with Westinghouse was to found
his own laboratory to carry his
work and dream to transmit energy
and news without the need of wires
but there were to problems: a
monopoly in the energy sector and
the already made inversion in a
cupper mine big enough to wire the
entire country. And just like that
Tesla and his inventions were
relegated to oblivion until his death
in 1943. It was until later on the
modern era of science that his
inventions came to life and his
dreams to a reality.
In his life Tesla had a few small
victories in 1893 where at the
Chicago international fair the AC
current system from Tesla won the
contract to illuminate the event and
finally the run for which type of
current DC or AC would be used
was finally won by Tesla and
Westinghouse thou to the
advantages of AC over DC; from
which the lower cost and more
simple transport were decisive. It
was in that same year when Tesla’s
system was adopted by the Robert
Moses Niagara Hydroelectric
Power Station in the United States
and Sir Adam Beck Hydroelectric
Power Stations both powered by
the Niagara Falls.
After such success Tesla began remaining of his life and in the end
again his dream of giving the world the FBI sized all of his documents
free energy and and work. Years later his family
telecommunications, dream that he achieved to return them with the
carried thru the Wardenclyffe also help of the embassy of the old
known as the Tesla tower, but republic of Yugoslavia and is now
before ending his research other on display in the Tesla museum.
interests came before from a
monopolized industry and Tesla’s
work was stopped and the tower
was partially demolished in 1917
without follow-through of his
work. Today the tower is meant to
be made a museum in honor to
Tesla’s work.

Illustration 3. Tesla before his death.

Image by The Times magazine.

Counting with an outstanding

number of 278 recognized patents
in 26 countries by the time of his
Illustration 2. Wanderclyffe Tower
death, some of the greatest merits
of his work are mentioned in a
Tesla never got married as he
short list:
explained to a journalist: “chastity
• AC engine
was very useful for his scientific
• Radio
abilities, but maybe not getting
• Magnetic Resonance
married was the biggest sacrifice
phenomena
he made for his work”. The day of
• Radar
his death in 1917 Tesla died alone
and unrecognized. His work • Electric submarine
misjudged and his credit stolen. • Carbon pill lamp
Edison took the work of • Vertical take off and landing
dishonoring Tesla for the of planes
 • X ray patents in his demonstration of his
• Tesla coil first retransmission. The later was
• Wireless energy corrected by the International
transmission Court in 1943.
• Remote control
• Ground energy extraction BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Electronic microscope [1]. Complete list of Tesla’s
• Electromagnetic propulsion patents available at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_
of mobile vehicles without
of_Nikola_Tesla_patents
mobile parts.
[2]. Biography and life of Nikola
• Climate control and
Tesla:
measurement devices
http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/
• Death ray (rumor)
biografia/t/tesla.htm
A complete list of patents can be
[3]. About history: “Who was
found on the internet.
Nikola Tesla”.
Probably of all his work two titles
http://history1900s.about.com/od/
are the ones that elude him the
people/a/Tesla.htm
longest – Edison’s “father of the
[4]. TV broadcast: “The unknown
electricity” and Marconi’s
genius of Nikola Tesla”. Discovery
“inventor of the radio”. The first a
Channel.
mischief of a man of true ambition
and second who used 17 of Tesla’s