Nikola_Tesla




Nikola Tesla (Serbian Cyrillic: Никола Тесла) (July 10 1856 7 January 1943) was an inventor, physicist, mechanical engineer, and electrical engineer. Born in Smiljan, Croatian Krajina, Military Frontier, he was an ethnic Serb subject of the Austrian Empire and later became an American citizen. Tesla is best known for his many revolutionary contributions to the discipline of electricity and magnetism in the late 19th and early 20th century. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current electric power (AC) systems, including the polyphase power distribution systems and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution. Contemporary biographers of Tesla have deemed him "the man who invented the twentieth century" Title of a biography by Robert Lomas (seen) and "the patron saint of modern electricity." Seifer, "Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla," book synopsis

After his demonstration of wireless communication (radio) in 1893 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as America's greatest electrical engineer. /ref> Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, Harnessing the Wheelwork of Nature: Tesla's Science of Energy by Thomas Valone but due to his eccentric personality and unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Childress, David Hatcher, (ed.) "The Tesla Papers: Nikola Tesla on Free Energy & Wireless Transmission of Power". Adventures Unlimited Press, 2000. ISBN Lomas, Robert, " The essay," Spark of genius. Independent Magazine, August 21 1999. Never having put much focus on his finances, Tesla died impoverished at the age of 86.

The SI unit measuring magnetic flux density or magnetic induction (commonly known as the magnetic field B\, ), the tesla, was named in his honour (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960).

Aside from his work on electromagnetism and engineering, Tesla is said to have contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics Cheney, Margaret, "Tesla: Man Out of Time", 1979. ISBN 0743215362. Front cover flap , and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. Many of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early new age occultism.
Tesla is honoured in both Serbia and Croatia, as well as his adopted home, the United States.

Early years


According to legend, Tesla was born precisely at midnight during an electrical storm, to a Serbian family in the village of Smiljan near Gospić, in the Lika region of the Croatian Krajina in Military Frontier (part of the Austrian Empire), in the present-day Croatia. Dommermuth-Costa, Carol, Nikola Tesla: A Spark of Genius, pp. 11-12. 1994. ISBN

Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in Smiljan

His baptism certificate reports that he was born on June 28 (N.S. July 10) , 1856, and christened by the Serbian Orthodox priest Toma Oklobdžija. His father was Rev. Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci. Milutin was born on 19 February 1819 in the village of Meduc, county Medak in Lika, Austrian Empire, as son of Nikola Tesla (b. 1789 in the military frontier, settled after his service in the Napoleonic Wars in Gospic in 1815) and Ana Kalinić, from the famous frontier Kalinic family. Tesla's family asserted its last name as such in Lika. His paternal origin is thought to be of the Draganić family from the Tara valley area below the geographical entity known as Old Vlach, from one of the local Serb clans; however genealogical research shows that Nikola is from the Herzegovinian noble Komnenović (modern-day Old Herzegovina in Montenegro), from its Orlović subgroup that traces its origin from the semi-mythic Pavle Orlovic that bore Prince Lazar's banner at the Battle of Kosovo in 1389. His mother was Đuka Mandić, herself a daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest. She came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools. She memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p 7 His godfather, Jovan Drenovac, was a captain in the army protecting the Military Frontier.

Nikola was one of five children, having one brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to Gospić in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., Page 474.

Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis"
says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering)
However, the university says that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
Others have stated that he was discharged without a degree for nonpayment of his tuition for the first semester of his junior year.

According to a college roommate, he did not graduate. . Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996

In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, Slovenia, where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. However after his father died he left the university, having completed only one term.

Nikola Tesla as a young man

Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books. He had a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain in precise form before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.

Hungary and France


In 1881, he moved to Budapest, Hungary, to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. Page 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met Nebojša Petrović, a young inventor from Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". Twenty First Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields (for which he received patents in 1888).

Soon thereafter, Tesla hastened from Paris to his mother's side as she lay dying, arriving hours before her death in April, 1892. Seifer, "Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla" - page 94
Her last words to him were, "You've arrived, Nidžo, my pride." After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in Gospić and the village of Tomingaj near Gračac, the birthplace of his mother.

United States


On June 6, 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City. "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website
He had little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, his manager in his previous job. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Charles Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his company Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was offered the task of a complete redesign of the Edison company's direct current generators.

During his employment, Edison offered Tesla $50,000 (equivalent to about $1 million in 2006, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation', the $50,000 in 1885 would equal $1,082,008.74 in 2006 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day to redesign them and gave the Edison company several profitable new patents in the process. During the year of 1885, when Tesla inquired about the payment on the work, Edison replied to him, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," and reneged on his promise. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. Page 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter Feb-June, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Tesla resigned when he was refused a raise to $25 per week. At Tesla's salary of $18 per week, the bonus would have amounted to over 53 years pay, and the amount was equal to the initial capital of the company. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p110

Tesla eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time – ironically for the Edison company. Edison had also never wanted to hear about Tesla's AC polyphase designs, believing that DC electricity was the future. Tesla focused intently on his AC polyphase system, even while digging ditches.

Middle years


In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over large distances.

In April of 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X-rays using his own single node vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that they had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X-rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of what Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as effects of X-rays.

In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X-rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus." N. Tesla, "High frequency oscillators for electro-therapeutic and other purposes". Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with current facts, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He early on stated,

Tesla later stated,

Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X-rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.

A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity was proposed in which transmission in various natural mediums with current that passes between the two point are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques - Barnes, Arnold A., Jr. ; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions - HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. - NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20-22 Mar 2000

Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is the archaic term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.

Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891.

On July 30, 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings, but ironically due to the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and belatedly realizing the danger he was forced to apply a sledge hammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp162-164
He also lit vacuum tubes wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. December 4, 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan Jovanović Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy teachings of the Swami Vivekananda. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".

Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .

When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:

At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was an historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".

Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part due to Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents," Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Tesla’s Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".

When Tesla was forty-one years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio controlled torpedoes. Tesla had developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN (teslaplay.comversion; also the version at rastko.org) In 1898, a radio-controlled boat was demonstrated to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. These devices had an innovative coherer and a series of logic gates. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton" and said of it, "You see there the first of a race of robots, mechanical men which will do the laborious work of the human race." Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p.167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.

Colorado Springs



In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.

Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the earth's surface and the Kennelly-Heaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 Hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).

In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, February 19, 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with,
or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.

Tesla left Colorado Springs on January 7, 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").

Later years


In 1900, with $150,000 (51% from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly." In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910 1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100 5000 hp.

Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that due to their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp228-229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp378-380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.

In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against the claims of Marconi. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.

Prior to World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his European patents. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (December 20, 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded, cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.

At this time, he was staying at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria to pay a $20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.

Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive RADAR units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Émile Girardeau, working with the first French RADAR systems, stated he was building RADAR systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the twenties, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.

On Tesla's seventy-fifth birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover.

The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul Janković of his homeland. The letter contained the message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, and chose to live by a modest pension received from Yugoslavia and to continue researching.

In 1936, Tesla stated "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland." Tesla's response to Vlatko Maček in 1936

Field theories


When he was eighty-one, Tesla stated he had completed a dynamic theory of gravity. He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published. At the time of his announcement, it was considered by the scientific establishment to exceed the bounds of reason. Some believe that Tesla never fully developed the Unified Field Theory.

The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their utilization. It was completed, according to Tesla, by the end of the 1930s. Tesla's theory explained gravity using electrodynamics consisting of transverse waves (to a lesser extent) and longitudinal waves (for the majority). Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:

Nikola Tesla, with Rudjer Boscovich's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.

Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:

Tesla also argued:

Tesla, also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by Ruđer Bošković, stating in an unpublished interview:

Directed-energy weapon



Later in life, Tesla made some remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, July 23, 1934.
The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, July 11, 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, July 10, 1934.
In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, July 11, 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
# An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
# A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
# A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
# A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.

Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon between the early 1900s till the time of his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) pg. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" pg. 454

Records of his indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, September 22, 1940.
Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" July 12, 1940
He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS)
None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com

Theoretical inventions


Tesla began to theorize about electricity and magnetism's power to warp, or rather change, space and time and the procedure by which man could forcibly control this power. Near the end of his life, Tesla was fascinated with the idea of light as both a particle and a wave, a fundamental proposition already incorporated into quantum physics. This field of inquiry led to the idea of creating a "wall of light" by manipulating electromagnetic waves in a certain pattern. This mysterious wall of light would enable time, space, gravity and matter to be altered at will, and engendered an array of Tesla proposals that seem to leap straight out of science fiction, including anti-gravity airships, teleportation, and time travel. The single strangest invention Tesla ever proposed was probably the "thought photography" machine. He reasoned that a thought formed in the mind created a corresponding image in the retina, and the electrical data of this neural transmission could be read and recorded in a machine. The stored information could then be processed through an artificial optic nerve and played back as visual patterns on a viewscreen.

Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer.

Death


Bust of Tesla by Ivan Meštrović, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia

Tesla died of heart failure alone in the New Yorker Hotel, some time between the evening of January 5 and the morning of January 8, 1943, at the age of 86. Despite selling his AC electricity patents, Tesla was destitute and died with significant debts. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.

Immediately after Tesla's death became known, the Federal Bureau of Investigation instructed the government's Alien Property Custodian office to take possession of his papers and property, despite his US citizenship. His safe at the hotel was also opened. At the time of his death, Tesla had been continuing work on the teleforce weapon, or death ray, that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that his proposed death ray was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma and was imagined as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe. After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The so-called "peace ray" constitutes a part of some conspiracy theories as a means of destruction. The personal effects were seized on the advice of presidential advisers, and J. Edgar Hoover declared the case "most secret", because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
One document states that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Charlotte Muzar reported that there were several "missing" papers and property.

Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York; There is another statue with Tesla standing in Queen Victoria Park on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.

Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death due to the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually, his nephew, Sava Kosanoviċ, got possession of some of his personal effects which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, Serbia. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on January 12, 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. After the funeral, his body was cremated. His ashes were taken to Belgrade, Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum, where it resides to this day.

Legacy


Tesla did not like to pose for portraits. He did it only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy (1863-1923). The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 - 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 S. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend Ivan Meštrović, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. Meštrović made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the Ruđer Bošković Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the Ruđer Bošković Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of Gospić in 1986.

The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic flux density or magnetic induction (commonly known as the magnetic field B\, ) was named in Tesla’s honour at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. April 01, 2005.
The Tesla crater on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.

[[Image:100RSD front.jpg|thumb|left|200px|100 Serbian dinar banknote obverse.

Photo courtesy of National Bank of Serbia. National Bank of Serbia ]]

100 Serbian dinars banknote reverse. Note the drawing of the electric motor.
Tesla has received many recognitions within Serbia. He is featured on the current 100 Serbian dinar note (see left). The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honour. On July 10, 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia (Belgrade) was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Tesla’s 150th birthday.

An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Nikola Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] We‘re confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006

The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a phone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honour of Nikola Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.

The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist (1856-1943), as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, July 10 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Nikola Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Nikola Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile Blazevic has been erected. In the nearby city of Gospić, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano Krsinic (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.

In the years after, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and with some controversy, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about 'hidden knowledge'. Some conspiracy theorists even in his time believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity.

Personality


Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbo-Croatian, he also spoke seven other foreign languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.

Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts germaphobic. He greatly disliked touching round objects and human hair other than his own.

Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent Macak". Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities.
Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.

Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force..." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that, "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."

Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress on several occasions.

Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.

Mark Twain in Nikola Tesla's lab, spring 1894

In middle age, Nikola Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.

Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying, Shortly before Edison died, he said that his biggest mistake he had made was in trying to develop directed current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.

Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. Tesla made his first million at the age of forty, but gave away nearly all his royalties on future innovations. Tesla was rather financially inept, but he was almost entirely unconcerned with material wealth. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.

Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, when Tesla was slipping into what many consider an altered state of mind, he would claim to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.

Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, February 25, 1923 (doc).

Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated,

In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, January 30, 1926.

In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to it [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance." He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.

In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" (extract at Electrosensitivity.org - Q&A)

Monuments


A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, July 9, 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The Monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.

Tesla in live theatre


A number of live theatrical plays based on Tesla's life have been produced and staged worldwide.
*The Canadian theatrical company Electric Company Theatre took its stage production Brilliant! The Blinding Enlightenment of Nikola Tesla on tour first starting in 1996. In August 2007, their production was again listed on their current performance schedule.
*The Austin, Texas based theatrical collective Rude Mechanicals created and then produced Kirk Lynn's Requiem For Tesla in January/Feb of 2001, and then presented again at the Fresh Terrain Festival in February 2003

See also



* List of Tesla patents
* Nikola Tesla in popular culture
* Teslascope

Notes



References



-->
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning", published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, " Dr. Nikola Tesla". Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, " The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century". Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, "The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla", New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., " Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola", 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of My Inventions.
* Pratt, H., "Nikola Tesla 1856 1943", Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* " Nikola Tesla". IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. "Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius", Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., " Tesla, Nikola (1856 1943)". Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* "Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature", Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., "Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review". Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162 170. Also, "Srpski asteroidi, Tesla". Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., "Nikola Tesla 1856 1943", Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, " Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials)". Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22 25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, "Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit". J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369 374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., "The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry". Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125 133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., "Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten?" Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, p 74 75. ISSN
* Waser, André, " Nikola Tesla’s Radiations and the Cosmic Rays". (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, "Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, "Tesla and the Military". Engineering 24, December 5, 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, "Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction". Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., "John Stone Stone on Nikola Tesla’s Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus". The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18 41.
* Anderson, L. I., "Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi". Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, "Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation". Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pg., 327 331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., "The Early History of Radar", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis "Nikola Tesla and the induction motor". 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280 287.
* " Giant Eye to See Round the World" (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, " Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs", A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp 433-438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, " The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator". A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
-->

Further reading


222px

Articles (pre-1900)



*A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Written by Tesla and others,.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography - Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55

Books


* Anderson, Leland I., "Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856 1943)", 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956. LCCN /L
* Cheney, Margaret, "", 1979. ISBN 0743215362.
* Childress, David H., "The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla," 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, "The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla," 1994. ISBN
* Jonnes, Jill "". New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., "The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla," 1894 . ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John Jacob,"Prodigal Genius," 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Lomas, Robert,"," 1999. ISBN
* Ratzlaff, John and Lee Anderson, "Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography", Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla," 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Tesla, Nikola, "Colorado Springs Notes, 1899 1900", ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at " My Inventions", 1919. ISBN
* Valone, Thomas, "," 2002. ISBN
* Caparica, A.J., "The Adventurers" features Nikola Tesla as a main protagonist. 2007. ISBN

Magazines


* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 v292 i3 p78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, July 28, 2003 v19 i15 p9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, Nov99, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, Mar88, Vol. 10 Issue 6.

Documentary and biographical films


* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Šerbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. Film was directed by Krsto Papić, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar Božović.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video) - Phenomenon: the Lost Archives documentary about Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film "The Prestige". Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of the scenes in the film.

External links



* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* The Nikola Tesla museum
* Nikola Tesla 150
* Tesla Forum of Western Australia Inc.
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfsram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* The Tesla Wardenclyffe Project. Shoreham, New York. Aims to reuse Wardenclyffe Tower
* Nikola Tesla's Father - Milutin Tesla
* Tesla - The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Tesla's 'Death-Ray' and the Egg of Columbus, from American Antigravity.
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
* Palmer, Stephen E., " Wardenclyffe: Nikola Tesla's Dream For Free Energy And The Conspiracy Which Destroyed It".
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891 1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.


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space
time
Elementary particle
wave
quantum physics
Electromagnetic radiation
science fiction
anti-gravity
teleportation
time travel
optic nerve
Tesla's Flying Machine
ionocraft
ailerons
propellers
Ivan Meštrović
Zagreb
Croatia
heart failure
New Yorker Hotel
January 5
January 8
1943
New York Times
January 8
1943
Supreme Court of the United States
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Alien Property Custodian
United States nationality law
teleforce
ball lightning
Plasma (physics)
particle beam weapon
Classified information
conspiracy theories
J. Edgar Hoover
Charlotte Muzar
Niagara Falls State Park
Goat Island (New York)
Queen Victoria Park
Niagara Falls
Nikola Tesla Museum
Belgrade
Serbia
January 12
1943
Cathedral of Saint John the Divine
Manhattan
New York City
Belgrade
SFRJ
Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy
Ivan Meštrović
Belgrade
Ruđer Bošković
Zagreb
Ruđer Bošković Institute
Bronze sculpture
Niagara Falls, New York
SI
tesla (unit)
magnetic flux density
magnetic
magnetic field
Paris
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
electric power
Tesla (crater)
Moon
minor planet
2244 Tesla
National Bank of Serbia
Serbian dinar
Power station
TPP Nikola Tesla
July 10
2006
Belgrade
Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport
Battery electric vehicle
Tesla Motors
Tesla Roadster
Tesla Motors
Ericsson
Ericsson Nikola Tesla
Zagreb
UNESCO
Croatia
Serbia
July 10
2006
Parish church
Mile Blazevic
higher education
Frano Krsinic
Belgrade
Occult
Science
Serbo-Croatian
Czech language
English language
French language
German language
Hungarian language
Italian language
Latin
obsessive-compulsive disorder
germaphobe
Hair
Central Park
celibacy
chastity
NNDB
Romantic love
connoisseur
Food
Mark Twain
middle age
Mark Twain
New York Times
Robert Underwood Johnson
Francis Marion Crawford
Stanford White
Wealth
Westinghouse Electric Corporation (1886)
Hotel New Yorker
Mental health
war
international relations
selective breeding
eugenics
gender equality
Collier's Weekly
vegetarian
Century Illustrated Magazine
vegetarianism
Century Illustrated Magazine
Niagara Falls
Hamilton, Ontario
Queen Victoria Park
Ontario, Canada
August 2007
Rude Mechanicals (a.k.a. Rude Mechs)
2001
2003
List of Tesla patents
Nikola Tesla in popular culture
Teslascope
December 5
2000
Leland Anderson
Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856–1943)
The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla
The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla
Thomas Commerford Martin
The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla
John Jacob O'Neill
Prodigal Genius
Robert Lomas
Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography
Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla
Colorado Springs Notes, 1899–1900
My Inventions
The Adventurers
Scientific American
The New American
July 28
2003
Popular Electronics
Omni (magazine)
Rade Serbedzija
Orson Welles
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
J.P. Morgan
Krsto Papić
Petar Božović
David Bowie
The Prestige (film)
Wardenclyffe Tower
Wired (magazine)
National Museum of American History
Serbs
United States
inventor
physicist
mechanical engineer
electrical engineer
10 July
1856
Smiljan
Austrian Empire
7 January
1943
New York City