History Lesson: Nikola Tesla
12 years ago
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* Nikola was born the son of an Orthodox Priest, Tesla claimed to sleep just 2 to 3 hours a day. Whereas Sir Isaac Newton needed 3-4 hours of sleep daily.
* When Tesla arrived in New York from Serbia, he had 4 cents to his name.
* Tesla brought a letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison that read: "My Dear Edison: I know two great men and you are one of them. The other is this young man!"
* He was offered $50,000 to improve some of Edison"s ideas, but when he delivered, Edison claimed that he had only been "joking," and refused to pay him.
* Tesla achieved the "impossible" by demonstrating a working brushless polyphase AC induction motor to a group of wealthy investors – none of whom would invest a penny.
* In 1886, Tesla persuaded investors to fund the Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing Company. Tesla invented a revolutionary arc lamp and the company made money. The investors then promptly reaped the profits and fired Tesla, who was forced into manual labor to survive.
* Tesla discovered X-ray radiation 3 years before Wilhelm Roentgen was credited for the same discovery.
* As a boy, Tesla saw a likeness of Niagra Falls, and dreamed of harnessing the power of the water to create electricity. In 1893, he succeeded in doing just that. Investors included W. K. Vanderbilt, son of Cornelius Vanderbilt.
* Although Tesla demonstrated his invention of the radio in 1893 and received a patent for it, the patent office stripped the award in 1904 and gave it instead to Guglielmo Marconi. Since both Thomas Edison and Andrew Carnegie had invested in Marconi and not in Tesla. Tesla fought for 29 years to reacquire his patent, finally getting a hearing in the US Supreme Court. With finding that 15 of Marconi"s 16 patents were actually invented by Tesla himself, the court rules in Tesla"s favor in 1944 – a year after his death.
* When inventor George Washington Carver’s paintings were displayed at the 1893 World"s Fair Exposition, they were lit using Tesla"s AC power – although Edison refused to allow use of his light bulbs.
* In 1898, the United States military showed no interest when Tesla demonstrated a remote-controlled boat. Even though Tesla"s wireless device was the beginning of the technology that enabled robotics that were initially conceived by Leonardo da Vinci.
* Tesla worked for many years attempting his wireless transmission of electricity and believed that electricity could be projected into the upper atmosphere for storage and access at will.
* J Pierpont Morgan invested $150,000 in Tesla"s idea to build a gigantic radio transmitter – but then refused to invest any further after it was revealed that Tesla was instead trying to transmit electrical power wirelessly.
* In order to keep electricity inexpensive to the public, Tesla sold George Westinghouse his own royalties, which were worth $12 million, for just $216,000. If Tesla had kept his royalties, he may have been the first billionaire, sharing financial history with the likes of John D. Rockefeller the worlds first in 1916, Howard Hughes, and Bill Gates who became the first man to reach $100 billion in 1999.
* In 1917, he received the Edison Medal from the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. A previous president of the AIEE was Alexander Graham Bell.
* Tesla and the great storyteller, Mark Twain, were very close friends.
* Orson Wells played Tesla in the 1980 Yugoslavian film Tajna Nikole Tesle (English translation: "The Secret of Nikola Tesla").
* In his latter years, Tesla asserted that he had indeed discovered a limitless power supply from a source that no one else had even suspected, but he never revealed the source.
* He claimed to have designed a death ray – or "peace ray," as he preferred – that could electrocute an approaching army completely at a distance of 200 miles.
* Tesla adorned the cover of Time Magazine in 1931, and was praised by Albert Einstein as "an eminent pioneer in the realm of high frequency currents..."
* In 1928 he received his last patent, which was a forerunner to the modern day helicopter, which was initially conceived of by Leonardo da Vinci. In his lifetime some have stated that he had applied for 840 patents and received 700. What can be found is that he has 112 US Patents and 34 International Patents. Regardless, he was known as the Father of Radio, Television, Power Transmission, and the Induction Motor.
* On January 7, 1943: Tesla died penniless and alone in room #3327 of the Hotel New Yorker. Soon after his death, the United States Government (with the help of the FBI) seized all of his research materials and writings, most of which never again reappeared.
* When Tesla arrived in New York from Serbia, he had 4 cents to his name.
* Tesla brought a letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison that read: "My Dear Edison: I know two great men and you are one of them. The other is this young man!"
* He was offered $50,000 to improve some of Edison"s ideas, but when he delivered, Edison claimed that he had only been "joking," and refused to pay him.
* Tesla achieved the "impossible" by demonstrating a working brushless polyphase AC induction motor to a group of wealthy investors – none of whom would invest a penny.
* In 1886, Tesla persuaded investors to fund the Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing Company. Tesla invented a revolutionary arc lamp and the company made money. The investors then promptly reaped the profits and fired Tesla, who was forced into manual labor to survive.
* Tesla discovered X-ray radiation 3 years before Wilhelm Roentgen was credited for the same discovery.
* As a boy, Tesla saw a likeness of Niagra Falls, and dreamed of harnessing the power of the water to create electricity. In 1893, he succeeded in doing just that. Investors included W. K. Vanderbilt, son of Cornelius Vanderbilt.
* Although Tesla demonstrated his invention of the radio in 1893 and received a patent for it, the patent office stripped the award in 1904 and gave it instead to Guglielmo Marconi. Since both Thomas Edison and Andrew Carnegie had invested in Marconi and not in Tesla. Tesla fought for 29 years to reacquire his patent, finally getting a hearing in the US Supreme Court. With finding that 15 of Marconi"s 16 patents were actually invented by Tesla himself, the court rules in Tesla"s favor in 1944 – a year after his death.
* When inventor George Washington Carver’s paintings were displayed at the 1893 World"s Fair Exposition, they were lit using Tesla"s AC power – although Edison refused to allow use of his light bulbs.
* In 1898, the United States military showed no interest when Tesla demonstrated a remote-controlled boat. Even though Tesla"s wireless device was the beginning of the technology that enabled robotics that were initially conceived by Leonardo da Vinci.
* Tesla worked for many years attempting his wireless transmission of electricity and believed that electricity could be projected into the upper atmosphere for storage and access at will.
* J Pierpont Morgan invested $150,000 in Tesla"s idea to build a gigantic radio transmitter – but then refused to invest any further after it was revealed that Tesla was instead trying to transmit electrical power wirelessly.
* In order to keep electricity inexpensive to the public, Tesla sold George Westinghouse his own royalties, which were worth $12 million, for just $216,000. If Tesla had kept his royalties, he may have been the first billionaire, sharing financial history with the likes of John D. Rockefeller the worlds first in 1916, Howard Hughes, and Bill Gates who became the first man to reach $100 billion in 1999.
* In 1917, he received the Edison Medal from the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. A previous president of the AIEE was Alexander Graham Bell.
* Tesla and the great storyteller, Mark Twain, were very close friends.
* Orson Wells played Tesla in the 1980 Yugoslavian film Tajna Nikole Tesle (English translation: "The Secret of Nikola Tesla").
* In his latter years, Tesla asserted that he had indeed discovered a limitless power supply from a source that no one else had even suspected, but he never revealed the source.
* He claimed to have designed a death ray – or "peace ray," as he preferred – that could electrocute an approaching army completely at a distance of 200 miles.
* Tesla adorned the cover of Time Magazine in 1931, and was praised by Albert Einstein as "an eminent pioneer in the realm of high frequency currents..."
* In 1928 he received his last patent, which was a forerunner to the modern day helicopter, which was initially conceived of by Leonardo da Vinci. In his lifetime some have stated that he had applied for 840 patents and received 700. What can be found is that he has 112 US Patents and 34 International Patents. Regardless, he was known as the Father of Radio, Television, Power Transmission, and the Induction Motor.
* On January 7, 1943: Tesla died penniless and alone in room #3327 of the Hotel New Yorker. Soon after his death, the United States Government (with the help of the FBI) seized all of his research materials and writings, most of which never again reappeared.
More than just think. Most of this is now true in what we see in today's world.
Very true
When did you switch this to Tesla? Still very interesting, especially to a science fan like me.
heh, about 48 hours ago :P, i just try and keep something interesting up every once in a while
It's definitely very interesting.
It's definitely very interesting.
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