Nikola Tesla- the forgotten wizard

[Guapo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt8Y93k0pB0

[Svipdag]

Forgotten ? Not by me. Nikola Tesla was one of my two heroes when I was a teenager. The other was Marcus Tullius Cicero. His reputation today seems to be that of a stereotypical "mad scientist".

Few realise, when they see the tall power-line transmission towers and the great transformers and inductors in sub-stations, that all of these things were Tesla's inventions. Single-handedly, he invented the ac generators and entire power distribution system which we use today.

The large 3-phase electric motors used in factories and machine shops are Tesla's invention. When working on his own, he had a tendency to invent things, patent them, and then forget about them instead of developing them. Tesla demonstrated remote control of a model boat in 1897, but, having solved the problems of doing so, never took it any further.

He dreamed of transmitting electric power without wires in usable quantities and demonstrated it in Colorado inthe 1890's. His backers would have none of it, however. As one of them put it, "Where do you put the meter ?"

When Guglielmo Marconi performed his experiments in wireless transmission of messages in 1895, he used apparatus which infringed upon patents already issued to Nikola Tesla. Tesla sued for patent infringement and ultimately won. Nonetheless, Marconi is credited with the invention of wireless.

Though, as usual, not credited with it. Tesla discovered X-rays before Roentgen. Unfortunately, his apparatus and the records of the experiment were destroyed in a disastrous laboratory fire. What did survive was a lantern slide of an x-radiogram clearly showing the bones within a part of the human body.The fire which destroyed everything else antedated Roentgen's experiments.

Did Tesla invent a "death ray" ? No one knows. Although Nikola Tesla was a naturalised citizen of the United States, the US government seized all of his papers after Tesla's death in 1943 and they have not been seen since.

[Guapo]

When Guglielmo Marconi performed his experiments in wireless transmission of messages in 1895, he used apparatus which infringed upon patents already issued to Nikola Tesla. Tesla sued for patent infringement and ultimately won. Nonetheless, Marconi is credited with the invention of wireless.

What a coincidence. I was just having a conversation with my wife about that :D

[Goidelic]

Watch out for some of the "future scientists ;)" of Europe, as they'll all be Black, North African Muslim, Arab, Paki, Indian scholars in European history or mixed-race judging by how migration is affecting all the European nations and their indigenous populations. :rolleyes::mad:

[Octothorpe]

I've read an account of Mark Twain being given a tour of Tesla's lab--oh, to be a fly on the wall, then! :D

[Amarantine]

What a coincidence. I was just having a conversation with my wife about that :D

The same here, but not recently:D

[Eldritch]

Wasn't Tesla broke and mad when he died? And is it true that there's a cult in California that worships him as some kind of a messenger from outer space?

[Treffie]

Tesla is a legend - how can he be forgotten? :confused:

[Svarog]

Wasn't Tesla broke and mad when he died? And is it true that there's a cult in California that worships him as some kind of a messenger from outer space?

The church of Tesla, yeah, they claim to know how to create cold fusion reactors and ultimate tesla weapons but is too dangerous to relive it to the public

[Amarantine]

Wasn't Tesla broke and mad when he died? And is it true that there's a cult in California that worships him as some kind of a messenger from outer space?

Don't know about Church (probably some secta), but he died lucid, in 87, but very poor in his Hotel room, No 3327 on the 33rd floor, in Newyorker Hotel in NY.

How you dare to use such words as "broke and mad" for such persone as he was?!:mad:

[Eldritch]

How you dare to use such words as "broke and mad" for such persone as he was?!:mad:

Well, you yourself said that he was broke. :confused:

And I didn't call him mad, I just asked if he was mad.

[Amarantine]

Well, you yourself said that he was broke. :confused:

And I didn't call him mad, I just asked if he was mad.

Oh, sorry, broke in my language in slang means, when you have mental problems...:rolleyes:

[Eldritch]

Oh, I meant broke as in "no money".

[Amarantine]

So, how often you have this language problems? sometimes this really annoy me, it could blokade the communication in total.

P.S. Sorry for this small off topic...

[Eldritch]

So, how often you have this language problems? sometimes this really annoy me, it could blokade the communication in total.

P.S. Sorry for this small off topic...

Well, every now and then, I guess. Usually nothing major. In my experience it's not uncommon for misunderstandings to arise between two non-native speakers, but usually they can be identified as such right away.

[Svipdag]

Nikola Tesla died in 1943 at the age of 87. He was still lucid about most matters, though he did have a few delusions. For example, he thought that his friend, Mark Twain was still living and in financial difficuties. It was Tesla who was living in poverty at the time.

Those who consider him a "mad scientist" are ignorant of his numerous practical inventions in fhe field of electrical generation and distribution.
Admittedly, Tesla was a flamboyant personality and given to showmanship. This was why Edison hated him.

Tesla had a much better reason to hate Edison. Before witnesses, Edison promised Tesla $50,000, which at the time had the buying power of about $2,000,000 today, if he could design an improved DC generator which wasted less energy.

When Tesla produced the generator design and asked for his $50,000, Edison said that he had merely been joking. So, Edison got the generator, for which he paid nothing, and Tesla quit and was reduced to digging ditches for his livelihood until George Westinghouse hired him.

Edison had the backing of the Smithsonian Institution, which Tesla, as a foreigner, did not, and Tesla never received the credit which was his due. [They pulled the same deal on the Wright Brothers, waiting 50 years before displaying a Wright flyer in the Hall of Aeronautics.]

[Eldwin]

He's hardly forgotten, he was hugely influential in electromagnetics and electricity and the claims of his "death ray" and perpetual motion machines keep an air of conspiracy alive around him.

Btw, did anyone else see the fantastic film "The Prestige" where he was played by David Bowie?

[Amarantine]

He's hardly forgotten, he was hugely influential in electromagnetics and electricity and the claims of his "death ray" and perpetual motion machines keep an air of conspiracy alive around him.

Btw, did anyone else see the fantastic film "The Prestige" where he was played by David Bowie?

No, could you give some link or something...

[Eldwin]

No, could you give some link or something...
IMDB is your friend: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0482571/

The trailer: MgNVC6Hv4KE

And scenes containing Tesla: EpU93XJic7M

[Radojica]

The same here, but not recently:D

You have a wife :tongue?

[Poltergeist]

Since he lived in hotels, he could have hardly been "broke" (entirely without money, that is), as the urban legend wants it. An assertion closer to the truth would be that he didn't use all the opportunities he had to enrich himself immensely with his inventions, like some others did. He seems though to have been some kind of monk who didn't care about any life comforts, dedicated only to his scientific pursuits and to his interior world.

[rashka]

Song created in honor of Nikola Tesla (sung in Serbian and English)


http://youtu.be/bikS-zT9rjM

Embedding is not permitted by video author so here is the link: http://youtu.be/bikS-zT9rjM