Nikola Tesla

The Worlds Sorcerer

lmost completely forgotten by historians, Nikola Tesla was a scientist and engineer that made immense contributions to the field of science. The Croatian scientist was responsible for the invention of numerous appliances such as: alternating current power, the radio, the x-ray, the remote control, robotics and wireless communications.

War of the Currents

Tesla trained in Europe in the fields of physics, mathematics and mechanics, but we can also correctly call him a dreamer. Perhaps his greatest single contribution to mankind was his promotion of alternating current, as opposed to direct current in electrical power systems. Teslas fellow inventor and bitter enemy, Thomas A. Edison, had to pump up his direct current every mile or so with powerhouses. Using a transformer could increase Teslas alternating current simply and directly by increasing the voltage. Tesla initially appealed to Edison to switch his system to alternating current, but Edison, backed by multimillionaire financier J. Pierpoint Morgan, would not budge. Many years later, the famed George Westinghouse, head of Westinghouse Electric Corp., made an agreement with Tesla, and entered a contract with the eccentric scientist to Nikola Tesla, age 38 (1894) build the gigantic alternating current generator inside Niagara Falls. The generator made history, sending electrical power all the way to New York City. Finally, Edison agreed that alternating current was a far superior system of power generation than his own direct current. A bust of Tesla now stands at Niagara Falls, and with good reason.

The Tesla Tower

Limitless Free Energy

In the years 1898 to 1917 (Tesla aged 42 to 62), Tesla received $150000 (over 3 million today) backing from the philanthropist J.P Morgan to construct a tower that could transmit wireless energy over the Atlantic and even distribute limitless wireless energy to the world. This invention was probably Teslas greatest out of 300 patents. esla started planning the project in 1898 and he went and searched for land and ended up finding 2000 acres of it on Long Island. Tesla named the site Wardenclyffe. The tower was planned to be over 30 metres tall but ended up being nearly 60 metres tall. Unfortunately during 1906 to 1912 Teslas financial stature slowly declined and he lost several law suits including one against George Westinghouse, who had supplied Tesla with materials, where Tesla had $23000 (nearly 3 million dollars today) worth of equipment removed from the site. To continue living in his house, Tesla signed two mortgages to pay for $20000 worth of bills. Eventually J.P Morgan realised that there was no way to regulate the power and therefore no way to make a profit from it. J.P Morgan stopped funding the project immediately and the tower ended up being demolished by the US government. Over the next 25 years Tesla found little opportunities to regain some of his former wealth and he eventually died in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel aged 86 on the 7th of January 1943.