ABOUT
NIKOLA TESLA
Nikola
Tesla...the man, the myth, the engineer. If you don't know who Tesla was
or what he did (that's probably why you are here) you are not alone. It
never ceases to amaze me how such a brilliant inventor--who arguably had
more impact on our everyday lives than most engineers in the past century--has
gone so underappreciated and unrecongnized.
Let me begin by posing a simple question: Who is
responsible for the power system we know and use today? Most people respond
"I don't know/care". Less apathetic people respond "Thomas Edison" (Especially
in California where the power company is Southern California Edison). And
finally some of the more educated (that is educated with respect to American
History) might respond "Westinghouse". Well, as I am sure you can imagine
they are all wrong (why else would I be asking?). Tesla invented the polyphase
A.C. power system we know today. In addition to inventing our power system
he invented a hundred
other things including the A.C. induction motor, radio transmission, arc
lamps, and of course the Tesla Coil.
I'll keep it brief, if you are interested in learning more about Tesla
visit www.neuronet.pitt.edu/~bogdan/tesla/.
Tesla was born on July 9/10, 1856 in Smiljan,
Croatia. He studied electrical engineering at the Polytechnic Institute
at Graz, Austria and the University of Prague. After studying at both institutions
Tesla took a job in Paris with the Continental Edison Company in 1882.
In 1884 he emigrated to America and began working for Thomas Edison in
his Menlow Park Laboratories. Tesla and Edison were not compatible individuals
and Tesla soon left Menlow Park for greener pastures at the Westinghouse
Electric Co. There he developed his polyphase system and later sold his
patents to Westinghouse for $1-million.
After leaving Westinghouse Tesla started his own company and was free
to work on the things that interested him. Unfortunately the Tesla Electric
Co. wasn't much of a success primarily because Tesla was more interested
in research than development. In spite of losing the company Tesla continued
his research. He no longer had a stable income and the money from the polyphase
patents was long gone. His later work would be funded by tycoons like J.P.
Morgan. Morgan in particualr was interested in Tesla's research in radio
and wireless power transmission. Morgan's investment funded tesla's research
at his Colorado Springs Laboratory (Right) and Wardenclyffe (Left, during
construction).
The Colorado Springs
Laboratory was where Tesla made breakthroughs in wireless power transmission.
During his short stay at Colorado Springs Tesla constructed the largest
working coil ever built. It was 
capable
of generating lightning bolts that were 135 feet long. It could further
more illuminate light bulbs at distances of 25 miles. After leaving Colorado
Springs in 1900 Tesla returned to New York where he began work on his most
ambitious project: the Wardenclyffe Tower. When completed the Wardenclyffe
Tower was supposed to be capable of transmitting power to any point on
the globe. Unfortunately, Morgan didn't have the same vision for the use
of this technology and pulled his finacial support for the project.
After losing Wardenclyffe to Morgan, Tesla was unabale to convince any
other investors to invest in his ideas. As time progressed, Tesla's claims
about his coils and wireless power transmission systems became more and
more sensational. He found himself talking of "Death Rays capable of destroying
10,000 airplanes at a distance of 250 miles."
Tesla died January 7, 1943, in New York City heavy in debt and regarded
as a crazy man who would say anything to woo investors. Tesla is really
a tragic figure whose tragic flaw was having a genuine humanitarian dream
in a capitalist society more interested in profitability than humanity.
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