Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 - 7 January 1943) was an inventor, physicist, mechanical engineer and electrical engineer.
Anyone who has ever taken even a passing interest in technology or electronics has probably heard the name Nikola Tesla. His inventions are undeniable, and have allowed us to make many steps forward in technology. He invented the vacuum tube, flourescent lights, distributors, AC power, the electric AC motor, the Tesla coil, and the radio to name a few. It was Tesla who discovered the basics of robotry, computers, and missile science that are the foundation for today's technology.
One of Tesla's better known experiments regards his famed Wardenclyffe tower, and a power experiment of world-wide proportions. Tesla questioned the Earth's own conductive properties, since we have been grounding electricity into the planet since the dawn of the electric age. The Earth has always dissipated even great charges of electricity (such as lightning) rather easilly. Tesla theorised that he could use the Earth's own conductive properties to amplify electrical current. Using the giant coil contained within his Wardenclyffe tower and a free connection to the local power plant (provided by a friend of his working for the power company), he started firing directed bursts of electricity straight into the Earth. These directed bursts of electricity would bounce off the far side of the planet, and return to the coil with a greater charge than it left with. The coil, in turn, would re-amplify this current, and send it back into the planet. After several cycles, Tesla's Wardenclyffe tower was producing millions of volts of electricity, and actually creating electrical arcs of up to 30 feet with a higher voltage than natural lightning. The experiment came to an abrupt end when the Colorado Springs Electric Company's generator was destroyed by the amount of power being backfed into the system. Tesla's experiment caused a city-wide blackout, and evidently also was responsible for killing wildlife that was in contact with the ground, melting the soles on people's shoes to the sidewalk, and also possibly causing a massive power outage on the far side of the planet that he was bouncing the electricity off of. In addition to this, his lab glowed with a blue corona, similar to St. Elmo's Fire, and turned all of the grass and other low foliage in the area blue from the electrical discharge.
From Wikipedia
Tesla became the first man to create electrical effects on the scale of lightning. The MT produced thunder which was heard as far away as Cripple Creek. People near the lab would observe sparks emitting from the ground to their feet and through their shoes. Some have observed electrical sparks from the fire hydrants (Tesla for a time grounded out to the plumbing of the city). The area around the laboratory would glow with a blue corona (similar to St. Elmo's Fire). One of Tesla's experiments with the MT destroyed Colorado Springs Electric Company's generator by backfeeding the city's power generators, and blacked out the city. The company denied Tesla further access to the backup generator's feed if he did not repair the primary generator at his own expense; it was working again in a few days.
Many of Tesla's later patent applications appeared complete, but when people tried to replicate his work, they found that certain key elements had been left out. Tesla's Death Ray, for instance - the patent application contained the power source needed for it, the effects of the death ray, physics of its operation, and even the range of the device, however, the critical element of the emission array was left out of the application. The patent was denied for this item. Tesla also submitted a patent application for his free energy system which also left out certain key elements - namely how to allow the system to sustain itself.
Tesla's stranger inventions really are quite fascinating, and one has to wonder if they actually did work, given his proven genius with earlier inventions. Some of his stranger invenions include:
The Electro Dynamic Induction Lamp - created in 1894, this lamp is said to be far advanced to anything currently available (US Patent 514,170)
The Bladeless Tesla Turbine - Patented in 1916 (US Patent 1,329,559), is said to be the most efficient engine, and is roughly 20 times more efficient than currently available turbines, though is still not in use.
Tesla's Ozone Generator - Patented in 1896 (US Patent 568,177). Ozone generators are currently banned for medical use in the U.S. despite claims of some doctors that ozone therapy can cure cancer and AIDS.
Anti-Gravity and the Wall of Light - Tesla theorized that a "wall of light" could be created using the sun's own rays, and within this wall, time, space, gravity, and matter could be manipulated. Furthering on this theory, it is thought that Tesla had designs for anti-gravity aircraft that would draw power from his famed Wardenclyffe tower (a giant Tesla coil, and one of the most efficient and highest output power plants ever created). If Tesla had these plans in his head, it's possible that all he needed to create the craft was a wealthy backer. Is it possible that this kind of craft could have been built in secret? Also of note, Tesla's design for an electric submarine could have also been the basic design for these airships, since the cigar-shaped craft can allegedy also go underwater and act as submarines, as well as airships.
Marconi was originally Tesla's assistant, and later started on his own research, while remaining very close friends with Tesla. The book Tesla & Marconi by David Hatcher Childress goes into this relationship. Historically, however, this relationship was greatly clouded by the Tesla vs. Marconi supreme court case, in which Tesla sued Marconi for patent infringement over the invention of the radio.
Turn of the century (1800s-1900s) America was a very different place than it is now. Information didn't travel instantly. Not everyone had access to a telegraph. Telephones weren't in wide usage (having only been invented in 1876, and still in the realm of wishful thinking for most people), and fax machines and the internet weren't even a twinkle in anyone's eye. Edison was based, at the time, in Menlo Park, NJ, whereas Tesla was back and forth between New York City and Colorado Spring, CO. The patent office was (and still is) based in Washington, DC. Tesla was an inventor, and true electrical engineer. Edison was a businessman first, and electrical inventor second. Edison can be credited with, as far as the light bulb however, is that he invented the first commercially available design for the light bulb. Tesla had invented several more radical ideas for electric incadescent light, including a means to light a wireless bulb, and a single connection bulb (requiring only one wire, and not two [positive and negative], as all current incadescent light bulbs require.
One of the things certainly in Tesla's credit as far as lighting goes (or many of his other inventions goes) is Tesla's incredible ability to maximize efficiency of electrical devices. This can be seen in Tesla's invention of flourescent lighting (which uses roughly 1/10th the power to produce the same amount of light. The Tesla Bladeless Turbine (which is 10 times more efficient than current turbines, but, for some unknown reason, is still not in wide usage), and AC power, which revolutionized industry, especially after the invention of the AC electric motor, as it can provide a greater electric charge over much longer distances.
There is no disputing that Tesla was an incredible inventor, and is responsible for much of the foundation for our current, electrically advanced world.
Tesla was most certainly one of the most influential figures in the creation of the modern world.
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