Nikola Tesla Biography – The Life of an Inventor and Engineer

Nicola Tesla is a Serbian-born American Physicist and electrical engineer, and an important contributor and pioneer in the field of commercial electricity. His invention of the AC induction motor, made possible the transmission of electricity to miles.

PHOTO BY FLICKR.COM/TEKNIKQA/

Nicola Tesla Biography

Nicola Tesla was born on July 9, 1856 in Croatia to Serbian parents, Father Milutin Tesla and Duka Mandic. Young Tesla used to have blinding visions during his childhood, which later turned out to be great inventions. He finished schooling at Higher Real Gymnasium in Karlovac, and studied Electrical Engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz and studied Philosophy at the University of Prague.After working as an Electrical Engineer for three years, Tesla migrated to the United States in 1884, and became a citizen in 1891. Working for a short period with Thomas Edison, an advocate of DC power, and finding him disinterested in promoting his idea of the AC motor, Tesla then moved out to pursue individual researches on AC power.

Tesla Coil - Transmission of AC Current

The year 1891, marks an important moment in his life with the invention of the Tesla coil. The Tesla coil works under the principle of transmitting alternative current electricity over long distances, through polyphase systems. High frequency alternative current transformed using the Tesla coil could send signals through the air. The idea was highly appreciated and accepted by George Westinghouse of Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, who purchased the patents for his AC induction motor.

Inventions in Electrical and Eletronic Fields

The rotating magnetic field is one of the earliest inventions by Nicola Tesla. He devised many field theories on electromagnetism. Tesla’s invention of the AC induction motor is considered one of the ten greatest discoveries of all time. The motors used in most of the electrical and electronic equipments, are based on Tesla’s idea.The initial idea of a Radio was from Tesla, which was later approved by the Supreme Court. He proposed the theory of Flying machine, which would run without an engine, wings, propellers, or fuel source. His idea was to fly it using an electric motor powered at the base stations. He is said to have invented a machine named “Teslascope”, for the purpose of communicating with extraterrestrial radio waves, which he believed, were coming from other planets.Despite his wonderful contributions to the world, Nicola Tesla was almost forgotten when he died of heart failure on January 7, 1943 at New York.Picture Source: flickr.com/teknikqa/