The 19-20th century witnessed the greatest advancement in the field of science and technology. The numerous inventions and discoveries that came in that era shaped the upcoming Information age. One of these inventions was electricity transmission system which we now basically depend on.
The person to be thanked for this is 'Nikola Tesla' arguably one the greatest inventor of all time. Owning 300 patents to his name, several of his inventions are used in many gadgets and tech today. While Tesla lit the world, his own life was full of darkness, In this article i will share how this great inventor went on to become from almost richest man on planet to living in rented hotel room, obsessing on feeding pigeons, living milk and crackers and dying like this.
Tesla came into the world in a very dramatic way, as the story goes he was born in middle of a thunderstorm in 1856 due to which halfway during the birth the midwife said he will be the child of darkness to which his mother replied no he will be the ' child of light'. Well only if she knew how true her words will be. Tesla was unique from start he had a hard time perceiving the reality cause of visions he saw which were accompanied by light flashes but this also granted him with a unbelievable imagination power which he later used extensively for his inventions, he imagined his machines in such a details that he didn't even needed diagrams, the end result always matched with the one in his head.
While studying in Graz university of technology he rarely slept and would work from 3 am to 11 pm every day, people feared he would die of exhaustion. He had powerful mental capabilities he could perform calculus in his mind ( every science student knows what a incredible feat it is) which lead to his professors doubting that he was somehow cheating, he was also a polyglot he spoke 8 languages. Despite being super smart he did not finish his college because he got himself addicted to gambling so much so that he dropped out of college in third year and cut ties with his family and friends. he eventually became electrician in Budapest in a telephone company.
In 1882 in he started working in Paris in french branch of a electric company of the man who would become his arch enemy one day, Thomas Edison. As managers saw his talent his reputation increased and he started handling big projects.Within two years he was working directly under Edison. Edison realised his potential and even quoted "I have had many hard working assistants but you take the cake". but when Tesla proposed his idea of alternating currents things turned around. They argued about the idea while AC had many advantages Edison feared that it would affect the sales of DC, of which he own patents of, So soon it became fight of Egos. In 1884 Tesla was offered a 50,000 $ project of improving some DC operated machines but when he completed the project he was refused to pay to which Edison said
"Tesla, you don't understand our american humor".
Ultimately he quit and started his own electric company but his investors tricked him, took over the company and Tesla's patents which they could cause of the agreement. Tesla went completely broke and had take up digging jobs for merely earning 2$ dollars a day to feed himself. Anyhow in 1887 Tesla invented the AC induction motor this was the most efficient way to convert electric power to mechanical power this was the ray of hope for him as this came into attention of George Westinghouse, a well known name in the electric market, he realised the potential of Tesla's motor. He wanted to use this motor to complete his AC system for competing against Edison's DC system. Tesla was overjoyed and licensed the patents to Westinghouse for $60,000,stocks and royalties, he also became consultant for Westinghouse ( earning $2000 per month) his life was turning around and thus began the "war of current" Tesla and Westinghouse against Edison.
Edison went full brutal in this war. He exploited dangerous effect of AC current and made a electric chair which was to be used on criminal to show how devastating AC current could be, He also publicly electrocuted animals one of which was a circus elephant named Topsy. Following is the video of this event.
Despite all his efforts it was Tesla and Westinghouse who won the war, He was contracted to light up the world's Colombian exposition, the first all electric fair which was attended by 27 million people. He also build worlds first alternating current power plant on Niagara falls but problems were not ready to leave Tesla Westinghouse company was going bankrupt and went $10 million in debt to resolve this Westinghouse had to ask Tesla to reduce his royalties. Tesla without second thought ripped off his contract which was giving him $12 million, if he would have kept those royalties he would have become the 'Wealthiest person on the planet and first person with billion dollar net worth' Tesla eventually set up several laboratories in New York for new projects, he was visited by many rich and famous including one of the greatest american writer of all time Mark Twain. during this time he worked on many inventions radio, x-ray tech, Tesla turbine, neon lighting, one of the first remote controls a RC boat (while demonstrating it people thought he was doing black magic ) and the most famous Tesla coil.
Tesla sued Marconi, case went on for years ultimately Tesla won the case but only after his death .Things became more worse as his project of wireless transmission was not supported and financial backers pulled out due this Tesla went in financial crisis. All of this took a great toll on him and affected his mental health greatly he lived last years of his life in New Yorker hotel, room 3321 which was funded by Westinghouse Corporation. Tesla was the inventor who was way ahead of his time but he died penniless. He had a great ideas but he could not capitalise on them.
- MOHIT PAL
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