NIKOLA TESLA(10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943)

Scientific InventorBy Lauren Sciberras

Nikola Tesla was born on 10 July 1856 to Serbian  parents in the village of Smiljan, Croatia.

Tesla was the fourth of five children. He had an older brother named Dane and three sisters, Milka, Angelina and Marica. Dane was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five.

Tesla, aged 37, 1893

At 17 years old, Tesla contracted cholera; he was bedridden for nine months and was near death multiple times.

Tesla's father, in a moment of despair, promised to send him to the best engineering school if he recovered from the illness (his father had originally wanted him to enter the priesthood).

Austria

In 1875, Tesla enrolled at Austrian Polytechnic in Graz, Austria, on a Military Border scholarship.

During his first year, Tesla never missed a lecture, earned the highest grades possible and passed nine exams.

He never graduated from the university and did not receive grades for the last semester.

In December 1878, Tesla left Graz and severed all relations with his family to hide the fact that he dropped out of school.

Budapest

In 1881, Tesla moved to Budapest to work as a draftsman in the Central Telegraph Office instead.

During his employment, Tesla made many improvements to the Central Station equipment.

France

In 1882, Tesla moved to France where he worked on electrical equipment at the Continental Edison Company.

USA

He immigrated to the USA in 1884 where he worked for Thomas Edison before resigning a year later to work on his own projects.

Tesla went on to patent many of his inventions, including his AC induction motor and transformer which he licensed to George Westinghouse.

USA

In 1891, Tesla became a citizen of the United States.

Tesla moved his lab to Colorado Springs in 1899 where he proved the Earth was a conductor, produced artificial lightning and became well known to his neighbours with his ambitious electrical experiments that caused booming thunder, rogue sparks and the occasional power outage.

In addition to his AC system, coil and tower project, throughout his career, Tesla discovered, designed and developed ideas for a number of important inventions—most of which were officially patented by other inventors—including dynamos (electrical generators similar to batteries) and the induction motor.

He was also a pioneer in the discovery of radar technology, X-ray technology and the rotating magnetic field—the basis of most AC machinery.

Poor and reclusive, Nikola Tesla died on January 7, 1943, at the age of 86, in New York City—where he had lived for nearly 60 years.