Nikola Tesla: the most important inventor that you have never heard of.

Do you know who Nikola Tesla was? Mmm... Probably not... unless you are either Serbian, a history savant, a Grade 9 physics pupil or a magnetism and electrics buff.

Well, put simply, this guy was a GENIUS. And probably about 100 years ahead of his time. Without his influence, no-one could be cross at Eskom, because there would be no Eskom. Look around you. Tesla's ideas and inventions are all around you.

Nikola Tesla (Serbian Cyrillic: Никола Тесла) was born in 1856 in Smiljan, then a part of the Austro-Hungarian empire (now part of modern day Croatia). His folks were both Serbian by origin. Tesla's father was an Orthodox priest, whilst his mother was a smart woman who created many appliances to make their lives easier - for example, a mechanical egg beater. Tesla later attributed all of his inventive instincts to his mother. Tesla first studied at home and later went to Carlstadt, where he blew his teachers' minds by doing integral calculus in his head.

His inventions
He stayed in Europe until he was 28 and then moved to America. From here on, he really came into his own. With his genius and American money to fund him, he invented so many things
that we use today.














Consider the following:
- The generation and distribution of Alternating Current electricity.
- Radio and Radio Control (He built the first remote control boat in 1899).

There are much more. See the long list at Wikipedia. But I would also like to mention one of my favorites: the high-frequency transformer (Tesla Coil) that paved the way for his research in transmitting electricity through the air and earth.

Our visit to his museum

After hearing and reading about Tesla, Hermie and I tramped off to the Tesla Museum in Belgrade, in the Tesla House in Krunska street 51, one Saturday Morning. It was very quiet, and we had the run of the place. The ladies were very friendly and started with a nice english video, that outlined Tesla's life and work.

After the movie, we had some cool toys demonstrated to us, including the egg-shaped rotor which Tesla built as a technology demonstrator. The demonstrator flipped a switch and a bronze egg, started to slowly turn on the flat dish. It picked up speed, and then "stood up", spinning on its vertical axis...faster and faster. Amazing!





But the highlight was most definitely when we were handed fluorescent tube lights and the high-frequency Tesla Oscillator was started. The 200 000 V electrical arcs started to fly, and the noise was deafening. Then, suddenly, the tubes started to glow...eerie... Tesla was right. You can transmit high frequency electricity without wires. I wonder if his dream will come true: the wireless transmission of electrical energy over the whole earth. Take a look at this video to see what I mean... Notice that as the Tesla Coil fires up, the tubes start to glow as energy is transmitted to them through the air.





Impressions
This man was simply a genius. The fact that three nations want to claim him as their own, attest to his greatness. I have only briefly heard of Tesla during a University physics lecture before, when the Tesla Unit for magnetic flux density was discussed. (I had to look that up.) It was only here in Serbia, that I realised that Tesla is probably the most important inventor that we have never heard of.

Both Hermie and I walked away from the museum deeply impressed by the man's genius and character. We spoke about him and his inventions for days after the visit. If you are ever in Belgrade, visit the museum. But, if you cannot, then take a quick peek at the links below.

Favorite Tesla Quotes

Otis Pond: "Looks as if Marconi got the jump on you."
Nikola Tesla: "Marconi is a good fellow. Let him continue. He is using seventeen of my patents."

"...The scientific man does not aim at an immediate result. He does not expect that his advanced ideas will readily be taken up. His work is like that of the planter - for the future. His duty is to lay the foundation for those who are to come, and point the way."
Nikola Tesla"

Nature and nature's laws lay hid by night. God said "Let Tesla be and all was light."
B A Behrend, Vice President IEEE

Cool Links:
There are MANY more. But these are the ones I liked best.

1. Very cool PBS Site: http://www.pbs.org/tesla/
2. Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla
3. The Official Tesla Museum: http://www.tesla-museum.org
4.Tesla Patents: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Tesla_patents
5. Tesla Autobiography http://www.teslaplay.com/autobody.htm

Videos
1. PBS Video: PBS Tesla Master of Lightning video.
2. Recent Movie: The Prestige.

Tesla Coil - 12 Million Volts

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