famed and mysterious scientist,

inventor and proponent of the AC current system,

the Tesla Coil

and some believe

the inventor of the death ray

and free electricity for all!

Nikola Tesla was born in the Austrian Empire in 1856

in what is Croatia today.

His father was an Orthodox priest

who wanted his son to enter the same profession

but Nikola was only interested in science.

His mother invented labour saving devices

in her spare time

and Tesla credited her

as being the source of his inventiveness.

Around the age of 17 he fell ill

and was in bed for 9 months.

His father promised to send him

to the best science education

if he recovered from the illness.

He excelled in his first year

at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz

earning the highest grades possible.

He was fascinated

by the mysterious phenomena of electricity

in his classes and wanted to know more

of this wonderful force.

He worked incredibly hard,

barely sleeping.

A trait that he was to keep throughout his life.

His teachers even wrote to Tesla's family

warning that he could die from overwork.

In subsequent years though,

he lost his scholarship

and became addicted to gambling,

losing his entire allowance.

Poor financial management

was another trait

that would hound Tesla in his later years.

When it came time for his exams

Tesla was unprepared.

He asked for more time

but it was refused.

So he dropped out of his studies

and never graduated.

Tesla got himself back on his feet

after a few years

and started work at the Budapest telephone exchange

as Chief Electrician

where he invented and perfected

a telephone amplifier.

He then went to work

for the Continental Edison Company in Paris.

There he was working on a new innovation.

Electric lighting.

His skills got him noticed

and soon he found himself heading to New York

to work for Edison.

In New York he was assigned to improving

and repairing generators.

After fixing the generators of the SS Oregon

all throughout the night

he happened to run into Edison.

Edison joked,

“I see our Parisian has been out all night!”.

Tesla explained

that he'd been working on the repairs for SS Oregon

at which point Edison conceded to his colleague:

"Mm,

this is a darn good man!"

Tesla started working

on an arc lighting system for Edison.

But it was never implemented.

Tesla left their employment shortly afterwards.

There was talk of unpaid bonuses

and disparaging remarks from Edison.

Tesla marked his departure

by scribbling across two pages of his diary

"Goodbye to the Edison Machine Works.

Tesla founded his own company,

Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing

and established a number of patents.

Even though it had the Tesla name,

the reality was

that the company was financed by two businessmen.

When they decided to abandon manufacture

and set up a new company

it left Tesla destitute and penniless.

During 1886 he had to work as a ditch digger

just to survive.

He wrote of the time:

“My high education in various branches of science,

mechanics and literature

seemed to me

like a mockery”

However

Tesla soon got himself back on his feet

with the invention of a new motor

that ran on alternating current or AC

which was eventually bought by Westinghouse.

Tesla was a champion of AC

and was hired by Westinghouse for $2000 per month

and given a hefty bonus.

Westinghouse Electric Company was founded

by George Westinghouse

and based their technology on AC.

In the late 1880s and early 1890s

a fierce commercial battle was going on

between Edison and Westinghouse.

Known as “The Battle of the Currents”

many unsavoury publicity stunts

were made by Edison

trying to prove that AC was unsafe.

But we'll not confront that particular Elephant in the room

for now...

Tesla became very wealthy

and now had enough money

to fund his own research,

hiring staff and opening workshops.

This was the golden age of Tesla's inventiveness.

In 1891 at the age of 35 he became a US citizen.

That same year

he patented the Tesla Coil.

He experimented with a system of wireless lighting.

Giving several public demonstrations

but he never received

commercial backing for the project.

At one demonstration

he told onlookers

that a system like this could transmit

“intelligible signals or power

to any distance without the use of wires”.

The thought that wireless power

could encompass the globe

was an idea that Tesla devoted much time and research to.

He started research

on wireless telegraphy

and in his laboratory observed strange signals

which he thought came from another planet.

He wrote to the press in 1899 and 1890

and an article was published entitled

“Talking With Planets”

More recently speculators think

he may have

unintentionally picked up signals

from Marconi's experiments

that were happening around the same time.

Tesla threw his money

into the wireless telegraphy research

and borrowed heavily from JP Morgan.

However Marconi's radio based system

which Tesla thought was in part copied from his designs

was the first to transmit a message

across the Atlantic.

After that,

investors preferred Marconi's system…

Which left Tesla once again without funds.

In 1906

it's speculated Tesla had a nervous breakdown.

From 1900

Tesla had lived in the Waldorf Astoria hotel.

In 1922 he moved to the St Regis Hotel.

Leaving his Waldorf Astoria bill unpaid.

After that

he moved from hotel to hotel

leaving his bills unpaid.

He liked feeding the pigeons

from the windows of his hotel room.

Despite issues with money

he spent over $2000

building a device

to heal the bones of a sick pigeon.

He said:

"There was one,

a beautiful bird,

pure white with light grey tips on its wings.

It was a female.

I had only to wish

and call her

and she would come flying to me.

I loved that pigeon

as a man loves a woman,

and she loved me.

As long as I had her,

there was a purpose to my life.”

Tesla never married

explaining that it would

get in the way of his scientific abilities.

When Tesla was 75

he was friends with a young science fiction writer

called Kenneth Swezey

who organized regular birthday parties for Tesla.

The press would be invited.

At one party

Tesla announced

that he had invented a motor

that ran on cosmic rays

that would run for 500 years

and a machine to photograph thoughts.

He also announced

that he had invented a “peace ray”

which he called

teleforce

that could bring down 10,000 airplanes at 200 miles distance.

When later questioned on his experiments he replied:

"But it is not an experiment...

I have built,

demonstrated

and used it.

Only a little time will pass

before I can give it to the world."

Nikola Tesla died alone in his hotel room

in 1943 at the age of 86

and his ashes are displayed

in a gold-plated sphere

in the Nikola Tesla Museum.

Two days after Tesla's death

the FBI ordered the seizure of his belongings.

An MIT Professor

John Trump

analysed the items.

He reported after 3 days deliberation

that there was

“nothing that would constitute a hazard

in unfriendly hands.”

"Cut!

Someone clean that up!"

"Never work with children or animals,

that's what they say at R.A.D.A."