Nikola Tesla was born 10 July 1856, in Smiljan, the Austrian Empire.

Tesla was a bright student and in 1875 went to the Austrian polytechnic in Graz. However, he
left to gain employment in Marburg in Slovenia. He later enrolled in the Charles Ferdinand
University in Prague, but again he left before completing his degree.

During his early life, he experienced many periods of illness and periods of startling inspiration.
Accompanied by blinding flashes of light, he would often visualise mechanical and theoretical
inventions spontaneously. He had a unique capacity to visualise images in his head. When
working on projects, he would rarely write down plans or scale drawings, but rely on the
images in his mind.

In 1880 he moved to Budapest where he worked for a telegraph company. During this time, he
became acquainted with twin turbines and helped develop a device that provided
amplification for when using the telephone.

In 1882 he moved to Paris, where he worked for the Continental Edison Company. Here he
improved various devices used by the Edison company. He also conceived the induction motor
and devices that used a rotating magnetic fields.

With a strong letter of recommendation, Tesla went to the United States in 1884 to work for
the Edison Machine Works company. Here he became one of the chief engineers and
designers. Tesla was given a task to improve the electrical system of direct current generators.
Tesla claimed he was offered $50,000 if he could significantly improve the motor generators.
however, after completing his task, Tesla received no reward. This was one of several factors
that led to a deep rivalry and bitterness between Tesla and Edison. It was to become a defining
feature of Tesla's life and impacted on his financial reward and prestige. This deep rivalry was
also seen a reason why neither Tesla or Edison were awarded a Nobel prize for their electrical
discoveries.

Disgusted without even receiving a pay rise, Tesla resigned, and for a short while, found
himself having to gain employment digging ditches for the Edison telephone company.

In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, but it wasn't a success as his backers didn't support
his faith in AC current.

In 1887, Tesla worked on a form of X-Rays. He was able to photograph the bones in his hand;
he also became aware of the side-effects from using radiation. However, his work in this area
gained little coverage, and much of his research was later lost in a fire at a New York
warehouse.

In 1891, Tesla became an American citizen. This was also a period of great advances in
electrical knowledge. Tesla demonstrated the potential for wireless energy transfer and the
capacity for AC power generation. Tesla's promotion of AC current placed him in opposition to
Edison who sought to promote his Direct Current DC for electric power. Shortly before his
death, Edison said his biggest mistake was spending so much time on DC current rather than
the AC current Tesla had promoted.
In 1899, Tesla moved to Colorado Springs where he had the space to develop high voltage
experiments. This included a variety of radio and electrical transmission experiments. He left
after a year in Colorado Springs, the buildings were later sold to pay off debts.

In 1900, Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. This was an ambitious project
costing $150,000 a fortune at the time.

In 1904, the US patent office reversed his earlier patent for the radio, giving it instead to
G.Marconi. This infuriated Tesla who felt he was the rightful inventor. He began a long,
expensive and ultimately unsuccessful attempt to fight the decision. Marconi went on to win
the Nobel Prize for physics in 1909 This seemed to be a repeating them in Tesla's life. A great
invention that he failed to personally profit from.

Tesla was in many ways an eccentric and genius. His discoveries and inventions were
unprecedented. He was one of the greatest and most enigmatic scientists who played a key
role in the development of electro magnetism and other scientific discoveries of his time.