Nikola Tesla Essay -- essays research papers fc

"Were we to seize and eliminate from our industrial world the results of Mr. Tesla's work, the wheels of industry would cease to turn, our electric cars and trains would stop, our towns would be dark, our mills would be dead and idle. Yes, so far reaching is his work that it has become the warp and woof of industry... His name marks an epoch in the advance of electrical science. From that work has sprung a revolution..." -B.A. Behrend If you were to go to an encyclopedia and tried to find out who invented the radio, X- rays, and the tube amplifier, this is what you would find: radio was invented by Marconi, X- rays by Roentgen, and the tube amplifier by de Forest. While you're there, look to see who invented the fluorescent bulb, neon lights, the speedometer, the basics of radar, and the microwave oven. I don't know who the encyclopedias say invented those things, but I bet it won't give any mention of a man by the name of Nikola Tesla. In fact, I bet they won't give much mention of Tesla for any of the many things he invented. We can thank Thomas Edison for this. Nikola Tesla was born in Smiljian, Croatia at precisely midnight on July 9/10, 1856. Not a lot is known about his early childhood. His father was an orthodox priest, and his mother, though unschooled, was highly intelligent. Tesla had an extraordinary memory, and he spoke six languages. He Spent four years studying math, physics, and mechanics at the Polytechnic Institute at Graz. Tesla first came to America in 1884, when he was 28. He worked for Thomas Edison. Edison, at the time, had just patented the lightbulb, and needed a system to distribute the electricity. One of Tesla's gifts was an understanding of electricity. Edison promised Tesla large amounts of money if he could work out the kinks in Edison's DC system of electricity. In the end, Tesla saved Edison over $100,000 (which would be millions today), but Edison refused to live up to his end of the bargain. Tesla quit, and Edison spent the rest of his life trying to stifle Tesla's reputation. Tesla devised a system for electricity, AC, which was better than Edison's DC system of electricity. AC (Tesla's system) is what is used in our homes today. AC offered many advantages over DC. AC could be transmitted over large distances through thin wires. DC electricity required a large power plant every square mile, and the transmission t... ... if he had had the money to finance the experiments he always wanted to? ``We are confronted with portentous problems which can not be solved just by providing for our material existence, however abundantly. On the contrary, progress in this direction is fraught with hazards and perils not less menacing than those born from want and suffering. If we were to release the energy of the atoms or discover some other way of developing cheap and unlimited power at any point of the globe this accomplishment, instead of being a blessing, might bring disaster to mankind... The greatest good will come from the technical improvements tending to unification and harmony, and my wireless transmitter is preeminently such. By its means the human voice and likeness will be reproduced everywhere and factories driven thousands of miles from waterfalls furnishing the power; aerial machines will be propelled around the earth without a stop and the sun's energy controlled to create lakes and rivers for motive purposes and transformation of arid deserts into fertile land...'' -Nikola Tesla BIBLIOGRAPHY PAGE 1. http://home.nycap.rr.com/useless/tesla/tesla.html 2. http://www.neuronet.pitt.edu/~bogdan/tesla