Nikola Tesla  

By on

Nikola Tesla was born exactly at midnight on July 10, 1856 in the tiny village of Smiljan, Lika in Croatia. In his late teens, Tesla left the village to pursue a career in electrical engineering. He started attending the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz, but never graduated and cut off all ties with his friends and family shortly after the start of his third year. He disappeared for awhile and suffered a nervous breakdown before being found and convinced by his father to attend Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague. However, he stayed for only one term, leaving after his father died.

After working for a telegraph company in Budapest, Tesla made his way to France in 1882. There he developed one of his greatest discoveries, using the rotating magnetic field forming the basis for alternating current (AC) machinery.  He built the first induction motor, which more than a hundred years later is still the preferred type of motor for industrial use.

In 1884 he moved on to the United States to work for Thomas Edison. Tesla worked hard to redesign Edison's motors, developing several important patents for the company before quitting over a salary dispute when Edison refused to raise his salary from $18 per week to $25. Tesla and Edison would remain enemies for the rest of their lives.

Tesla's next step was to begin work on X-rays using single vacuum tubes. He also created machines testing mechanical resonance, inducing sleep, bladeless turbine engines, cordless gas lamps, the first spark plugs, the first ever radio transmitter (though the patent was later given to Marconi), and wireless electromagnetic energy transmitters. He was considered for the Nobel Prize on several occasions.

Tesla was the classical mad scientist. He was seen by his contemporaries as a man who believed in things that couldn't be done. Tesla died of heart failure in early January 1943 at the age of 86.

 Related Links



More interesting Notes:
Steven McFadyen's avatar Steven McFadyen

Steven has over twenty five years experience working on some of the largest construction projects. He has a deep technical understanding of electrical engineering and is keen to share this knowledge. About the author

myElectrical Engineering

comments powered by Disqus



Introduction to Lighting

When looking at the design of a lighting scheme it is useful to have an understanding on the nature of light itself and some of the basic theory associated...

Cost Performance and Time

Often us engineers get so bogged down in equations, using software, producing drawings and writing specifications that this becomes the sole focus.   ...

Star-Delta Motor Starting - Performance

Many questions sent in to the site are in connection with motor starting and in particular star-delta.  For all but the simplest application, there is...

Equipment Verification (to IEC Standards)

One of the requirements to ensuring that everything works is to have equipment selected, manufactured and verified [tested] to IEC standards. Not all equipment...

Alternating Current Circuits

Alternating current (a.c.) is the backbone of modern electrical power distribution. In this article I’ll be pulling some of the more important concepts...

Capacitors - Energy Storage Application

Capacitors have numerous applications in electrical and electronic applications.  This note examines the use of capacitors to store electrical energy....

Fault Calculations - Introduction

Fault calculations are one of the most common types of calculation carried out during the design and analysis of electrical systems. These calculations...

Multimeter

Multimeters are undoubtedly the most common item of electrical test equipment in use.  Often it is the first piece of equipment people will turn to when...

Windows Live Writer and myElectrical

When making adding a Note to our site we have a great online WYSIWYG editor and things are pretty simple.  However, if you prefer you can write, manage...

Dielectric loss in cables

Dielectrics (insulating materials for example) when subjected to a varying electric field, will have some energy loss.   The varying electric field causes...

Have some knowledge to share

If you have some expert knowledge or experience, why not consider sharing this with our community.  

By writing an electrical note, you will be educating our users and at the same time promoting your expertise within the engineering community.

To get started and understand our policy, you can read our How to Write an Electrical Note