The Extraordinary Life of Nikola Tesla

[rangerrebew]

The Extraordinary Life of Nikola Tesla

The eccentric inventor and modern Prometheus died 75 years ago, after a rags-to-riches to rags life

By Richard Gunderman, The Conversation

January 5, 2018


    Nikola Tesla's Struggle to Remain Relevant


    Spoke eight languages
    Produced the first motor that ran on AC current
    Developed the underlying technology for wireless communication over long distances
    Held approximately 300 patents
    Claimed to have developed a “superweapon” that would end all war

The match for each, of course, is Tesla. Surprised? Most people have heard his name, but few know much about his place in modern science and technology.

The 75th anniversary of Tesla’s death on Jan. 7 provides a timely opportunity to review the life of a man who came from nowhere yet became world famous; claimed to be devoted solely to discovery but relished the role of a showman; attracted the attention of many women but never married; and generated ideas that transformed daily life and created multiple fortunes but died nearly penniless.

Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/extraordinary-life-nikola-tesla-180967758/#K4m9Xe06tTF05koe.99

[Fishrrman]

Good article:

Excerpt:
"In the popular imagination, Tesla played the part of a mad scientist. He claimed that he had developed a motor that ran on cosmic rays; that he was working on a new non-Einsteinian physics that would supply a new form of energy; that he had discovered a new technique for photographing thoughts; and that he had developed a new ray, alternately labeled the death ray and the peace ray, with vastly greater military potential than Nobel’s munitions."

I wonder if Tesla's "motor that ran on cosmic rays" provided Ayn Rand with the idea of John Galt's "motor"...?

[thackney]

...Developed the underlying technology for wireless communication over long distances...

Tesla was brilliant and advanced many areas of electrical understanding.  But he did NOT develop the technology for wireless communication.  Guglielmo Marconi did most of this work.

Nikola  Tesla:  The  Guy  Who  DIDN'T  "Invent  Radio"
https://earlyradiohistory.us/tesla.htm

[Gefn]

Tesla was a genius. I don’t think he was appreciated as much as he should have been in life. Such is the way with genius I’m afraid.