Tag: Nikola Tesla

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Nikola Tesla Invents the 20th Century

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Nikola TeslaFor months Tesla fought his own demons, both psychological and physiological.  Convulsions periodically wracked his body and mental fatigue drained him of the will to live.  On top of his ailments Tesla was also besieged with his continued failure to solve the problem of the commutatorless AC motor – a problem that had first become his obsession in Prof. Poeschl’s lecture hall back in Graz.  Likely the pursuit of this solution was what kept him going.

Part of his therapy, if you will, was to take daily walks, something that his friend Anton Szigeti had insisted upon.  It was during one of these walks that Tesla was to make the discovery that would change his life and eventually put the world on the path to modern electricity.  In 1882, Budapest was less than a decade past the official merging of the twin capital cities of Buda and Pest, along with Obuda (ancient Buda).  Construction of the now imposing parliament building that dominates the Pest side of the Danube River wouldn’t be started for another three years, while high on the hill of the opposite bank the centuries-old Buda Castle was undergoing yet another remodeling as the city grew to accommodate its new role in the autonomous Hungarian government.  Electric lighting – by direct current – had been installed in the city center in 1878.

It was here that Tesla walked one evening with Szigeti as the sun slowly settled down over the horizon.  The glistening sunset reminded Tesla of one of the many poems that he had memorized – from the tragic play Faust by the German writer and polymath Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.  Tesla fell into a near trance as he recited aloud Goethe’s famous lines in its original German*:

“Sie ruckt und weicht, der Tag ist uberlebt,
Dort eilt sie hin und fordert neues Leben.
Oh, dass kein Flugel mich vom Boden hebt
Ihr nach und immer nach zu streben!

Ein schoner Traum indessen sie entweicht,
Ach, zu des Geistes Flugeln wird so leicht
Kein korperlicher Flugel sich gesellen!”

[The glow retreats, done is the day of toil;
It yonder hastes, new fields of life exploring;
Ah, that no wing can lift me from the soil
Upon its track to follow, follow soaring!

A glorious dream! though now the glories fade.
Alas! the wings that lift the mind no aid
Of wings to lift the body can bequeath me.]

Tesla suddenly stopped.  Then, as he relates in his autobiography:

“As I uttered these inspiring words the idea came like a flash of lightning and in an instant the truth was revealed.  I drew with a stick on the sand the diagrams…The images I saw were wonderfully sharp and clear and had the solidity of metal and stone, so much so that I told him: ‘See my motor here; watch me reverse it.’ I cannot begin to describe my emotions.  Pygmalion seeing his statue come to life could not have been more deeply moved.  A thousand secrets of nature which I might have stumbled upon accidentally I would have given for that one which I had wrested from her against all odds and at the peril of my existence.”

The AC motor was invented, if only in his magnificently detailed mind’s eye.  It would be another six years before Tesla, by then working in New York City, would be cajoled by Thomas Commerford Martin into presenting the design in an address to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. For now the invention that would change the world remained in Tesla’s head, in such intense detail that for the next several years he modified and improved on the device entirely through visualization.  As Tesla later describes in My Inventions:

“For a while I gave myself up entirely to the intense enjoyment of picturing machines and devising new forms.  It was a mental state of happiness about as complete as I have ever known in life.  Ideas came in an uninterrupted stream and the only difficulty I had was to hold them fast.  The pieces of apparatus I conceived were to me absolutely real and tangible in every detail, even to the minute marks and signs of wear.  I delighted in imagining the motors constantly running, for in this way they presented to mind’s eye a more fascinating sight.  When natural inclination develops into a passionate desire, one advances towards his goal in seven-league boots.  In less than two months I evolved virtually all the types of motors and modifications of the system which are now identified with my name.”

Still, it would be years later before his new invention would be actually put into use.

[Adapted from my book, Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity. For more, check out the links below]

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David J. Kent is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (both Fall River Press). He has also written two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. His next book, Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, is scheduled for release in summer 2017.

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Tesla Goes to the Movies

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Nikola TeslaFor a guy that died penniless in 1943, Nikola Tesla has sure become a modern day pop figure. Besides the usual documentaries, Tesla has made appearances in several mainstream movies.

For example, Tesla is a key character in the movie “The Prestige,” starring Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Scarlett Johansson and Michael Caine.  In keeping with his rock star status, Nikola Tesla is played by none other than iconic rock star David Bowie.  The Prestige centers on the competing lives of two turn of the 20th Century magicians, each vying for fame and fortune in the emerging yet surprisingly cutthroat world of magic.  Each tries to outdo the other in developing new tricks and when one rival is seemingly able to be in two places at once, the other seeks out the mysterious Nikola Tesla, then working in his remote Colorado Springs laboratory.  At first, the “magic” of Tesla’s electronic machine seems not to be found, or was it?  Soon the secret is revealed to the magician and Tesla alike, but not to the filmgoing audience.  Now two magicians can seemingly be in two places at once, and the rivalry expands through deaths of loved ones – and the trial of one magician for apparently murdering the other.  But as with all magic and deceitful twists and turns, not is all what it seems.  And Tesla’s magic seems the most amazing of all, a magic that neither magician could replicate on his own.

Another movie due out in 2013 is “Fragments from Olympus: The Vision of Nikola Tesla.” In it, “the enigmatic life of electrical genius Nikola Tesla unravels through a posthumous F.B.I. investigation into his particle beam research, including a new super weapon called the “death ray”.” [More on the conspiracy theories surrounding Tesla in my book.]

Even more intriguing is the recent announcement by the Facebook site “Nikola Tesla,” which reported that “at fall begins the filming of a movie about the great Serbian scientist, Nikola Tesla.” The film is expected to be filmed, at least in part, in Chicago, home of the famous Columbian Exhibition that featured Tesla’s massive generators as commercialized by George Westinghouse. Slated to play Telsa is none other than Christian Bale of “Batman” fame – and to the Prestige movie noted above.

Bale not “Hollywood” enough for you. The same Tesla site on Facebook has revealed that Nicholas Cage (!) will play Thomas Edison, one-time employer and then arch-rival of Nikola Tesla. Also being considered for roles are Croatian actor Rade Serbedzija, and Hollywood luminaries Martin Sheen, Megan Fox and Jessica Alba.

The tentative title is “Tesla, Ruler of the World,” and reportedly “will revolve around a modern-day technological crisis that somehow ties back to Tesla’s life.”  According to the Tesla Facebook page:

The first stage recorders are going to take place in Serbia, and then the team is going to move to Chicago. For the purposes of the film, our country will build the whole “New York” scenery as well as the scenery of the other cities which are important in the biography of Nikola Tesla. A prominent weekly magazine “Hollywood Reporter” also wrote about this film ten days ago. They state that this is a Serbian-American cooperation, that the film will include an international actors team, and that the story about Tesla will reach the audience through a partnership with a major film studio. Renowned “Universal Studios” will partially finance the filming, but will also be responsible for promoting the movie and its distribution in the world. As the “Hollywood Reporter” said even before the shooting, this movie is seen as a “first pick” of prestigious awards.”

If all goes well the movie will come out roughly around the time of my book “Nikola Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity,” i.e., June 20, 2013.

Follow developments here or on my Facebook page.

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Happy Birthday, Nikola Tesla – A Scientific Rock Star is Born

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Happy birthday Nikola TeslaToday is Nikola Tesla’s birthday.

Right out of central casting the storm arrived as Djouka Tesla went into labor.  Praying for an easy delivery of her fourth child, the roar of the thunder drowned out her muffled, yet experienced, cries of pain.  At precisely midnight the cries transferred from Djouka’s lips to those of the newly born Nikola.  In an omen that couldn’t have been scripted more eloquently, a lightning bolt crackled from the sky and lit up the small house just as Nikola entered this world.

Startled, the midwife turned to the young mother and said “Your new son is a child of the storm.”

“No,” responded Djuka, “He is a child of the light.”

And so it seems that from the beginning Nikola Tesla was destined to electrify the world with his discoveries.

That warm July 9th into 10th of 1856 took place in Smiljan, a small village located in what was then the Austrian Empire but now is part of present day Croatia. Being born exactly at midnight led to some uncertainty as to what date his birthday should be celebrated, but in practice Tesla’s birthdays were rarely celebrated much at all, at least until his later years when he was world famous.  Then his birthdays (officially July 10th) became celebrated affairs complete with press coverage.  But that was much later.  For now he was just the son of a Serbian Orthodox priest in a tiny country hamlet.

In contrast, his 75th birthday party was something of a marvel for Tesla, who by that time had become largely secluded in his New York hotel room. A young science fiction writer whom he had befriended, Kenneth Swezey, arranged to have famous engineers and scientists from all over the world send something to Tesla. Letters and tributes flooded in, including those from several Nobel laureates. Even a note from Albert Einstein, who congratulated Tesla on his contributions to the field of high-frequency currents. Time magazine put Nikola Tesla on the cover.

Science editor and publisher Hugo Gernsback nearly gushed his praise, writing:

“If you mean the man who really invented, in other words, originated and discovered – not merely improved what had already been invented by others – then without a shade of doubt Nikola Tesla is the world’s greatest inventor, not only in the present but in all history…His basic as well as revolutionary discoveries, for sheer audacity, have no equal in the annals of the intellectual world.”

All was good for Tesla. Unfortunately, over the remaining dozen years of his life he would become largely forgotten as others – notably Edison, Westinghouse and Marconi – got tactic credit for Tesla’s actual contributions. Tesla died in 1943 just a few months before the Supreme Court upheld his original patent and gave Tesla credit for invention of the radio (for which Marconi had received a Nobel Prize in 1909 after having “borrowed” Tesla’s ideas).

More on Tesla from the Tesla Society of USA and Canada.

In case you missed it, check out the two Tesla statues at Niagara Falls.

Nikola Tesla – The Book

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

 

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Two Views of Nikola Tesla at Niagara Falls

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Nikola Tesla and his alternating current system enabled the harnessing of hydroelectric power at Niagara Falls, the first great electrical power generation and transmission system in the country. To honor his contributions there are now two statues of Tesla at Niagara.

The first one was installed on Goat Island on the American side in the 1970s. The bronze statue is a copy of one sitting at the University of Belgrade in Belgrade, Serbia. It shows him sitting in a chair studying blueprints.

Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls American side

The second was installed in 2006 in Queen Victorian Park overlooking the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side. Here he is standing, a dashing young man in a long formal coat, holding an elegant cane, and a fancy top hat.

Nikola Tesla Canadian side

Which statue do you like best?

I’ll have more on Tesla’s contributions to the generation of electricity at Niagara in the book.

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Chapters 1, 2 and 3 of Tesla: Wizard of Electricity are Done!

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Nikola TeslaTonight I finished Chapter 3 of the Nikola Tesla book. Chapters 1 and 2 were finished in previous weeks.  I also have parts of other Chapters finished. I’m on schedule to have the first draft of the book done by the end of July/first week of August.  Which is good, because I have a September 1st deadline to deliver the book to my editor at Sterling Publishing.

As before, “Done,” of course, doesn’t actually mean done.  I will still need to do significant editing, pull out sidebar quotes (it will be a very visually appealing book), and obtain the photos to be used.  But the substance for at least three chapters is complete.

Given Tesla’s obsession with numbers divisible by three, having three chapters done would tickle his fancy.

Okay, back to work. Only 6 more chapters to finish. 🙂

See other Tesla posts here.

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Nikola Tesla the Germaphobe

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Nikola TeslaNikola Tesla was more than a little germaphobic. Before eating he would use one of his required 18 napkins* to gently wipe the germs off of each piece of silverware, china and glassware. He commonly wore soft leather gloves and refused to shake hands with anyone. On the rare occasions that he was unable to avoid a handshake he would quickly excuse himself and rush off to the washroom to cleanse the offending germs off his hand.

How did he get this way?

Prone to idiosyncratic behavior, Tesla’s fear of germs began after he observed through a microscope the many microscopic creatures found in normal drinking water. About the experience Tesla would later write to Robert Underwood Johnson:

“If you would watch only for a few minutes the horrible creatures, hairy and ugly beyond anything you can conceive, tearing each other up with the juices diffusing throughout the water – you would never again drink a drop of unboiled or unsterilized water.”

After reading that, I’m not so sure I can look at a glass of water the same way again.

* Tesla was also obsessed with doing everything in multiples of three, hence the 18 napkins, 27 laps around the pool, 3 times around the block, etc., etc., etc.

The passage above is a modified excerpt from Chapter 3: The Odd Mr. Tesla in my book, Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity. The book is now into its 8th printing with translations around the world.

See other Tesla posts here.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, now available. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (both Fall River Press). He has also written two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Tesla to Edison to Lincoln – Connecting the Dots

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Tesla to Edison to Lincoln (say it in the cadence of “Tinkers to Evers to Chance“).

Yes, Nikola Tesla disliked Thomas Edison, but Edison greatly admired Abraham Lincoln.  I’ve always been an devotee of Abraham Lincoln.  And now I’m writing a book on Nikola Tesla [UPDATE: I now have three Tesla books and one about Edison].  Despite conflicts with himself, Tesla had won the “War of the Electric Currents” by developing the motor needed to use Alternating Current (AC) versus the Direct Current (DC) on which Edison had staked his claim. [You can read about it in Chapter 5 of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity].

So it was a nice surprise to find the photo below on my Facebook page.

Thomas Edison and Abraham LincolnPosted by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum on its own Facebook page, it turns out Edison was so enamored of Lincoln “that he placed Lincoln’s profile on his own letterhead, and wrote out this testimonial in 1880:

” … the life and character of Abraham Lincoln and his great services to this country during the war of the rebellion will stand as a monument long after the granite monuments erected to his memory have crumbled in the dust.”

Who says the unschooled Edison didn’t have a way with words, eh?

The photo was on display through Labor Day 2012 at the ALPLM in Springfield, IL. It was purchased by them from the Louise and Barry Taper Collection in 2007. I expect to be making a trek (or two) to the ALPLM myself in the not too distant future as I research my Lincoln book.

Funny how my life travels from Tesla to Edison to Lincoln with only one degree of separation.

David J. Kent is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) (both Fall River Press). He has also written two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

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Nikola Tesla and the White Pigeon

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Nikola TeslaNikola Tesla was a wonderfully eccentric man when he wasn’t busy discovering new inventions.  One of his many oddities was his fascination – okay, let’s call it an obsession – with pigeons.

Always dressed impeccably, Tesla nonetheless could be occasionally found standing in Bryant Park, arms outstretched, bird feed at his feet, and covered in pigeons.  He was a sight to behold, and passersby chuckled at the idea of the great scientist enamored of what most would agree are not the cleanest or most appealing of birds (some would go so far as to call them “rats with wings”). But here he was…mingling with the feisty foul just steps from his scientific laboratory.

On other occasions Tesla would wander the streets of New York City, head down, gazing intently, on the alert for the injured pigeon who mistook the windowed glass of the slowly rising skyscrapers of New York for a passageway (or a possible mate, one might imagine).  Rushing to any bird he observed, Tesla gently lifted his new-found charge and brought it back to his hotel room to nurse it back to health.

Such an odd paradox was this man.  Desperately germophobic to the point of avoiding human contact, here he is covered in bird feathers…and worse. And when he took ill and couldn’t tend to his rounds he would order his assistants to go out looking in his stead.  Giving them careful instructions on where to look and how to handle the birds, they were to bring them back and care for them if Tesla could not.

One particular white pigeon became a personal friend when Tesla was most in need of friendship.  One day the pigeon showed up on his windowsill looking, to Tesla at least, forlorn.  Tesla knew the pigeon had come to tell him it was dying.

In the end, both the pigeon and Tesla died alone.

For an interesting rendition of “Tesla’s Pigeon” performed by Jessica Lennick and Daniel Paul Lawson, check out this YouTube clip.

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, now available. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (both Fall River Press). He has also written two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Nikola Tesla Chapter 1 is in the can

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Tesla radio stained glass window“In the can” in the sense of wrapping up a film, as opposed to in the circular filing cabinet (or worse, the room with a view of the bidet).  Just wanted to clarify that.  In any case, with a September 1st deadline to deliver the Nikola Tesla book to the publisher I have to finish a chapter a week for the next two months.  Chapter 1 – A Scientific Rock Star is Born –  is now done.

“Done,” of course, doesn’t mean actually done.  I will still need to do significant editing, pull out sidebar quotes (it will be a very visually appealing book), and obtain the photos to be used.  But the substance is complete.

And Chapter 1 isn’t the only part of the book that is written.  I recently completed a short preface that sets the stage for Tesla’s contributions, peculiarities, and legacies.  I also have pieces of other chapters, an appendix, and ideas for how to incorporate some of his writings.

Next step is to scope out Chapter 2 – Coming of Age in Europe.  By this time next week I hope to be putting the finishing touches on the chapter. Wish me luck.

BTW, the photo is of a stained glass window in the Passage Světozor (a shopping mall) in Prague, Czech Republic. Courtesy of Wiki Commons.

More on my Nikola Tesla book.

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Some enhancements to the pages to facilitate finding articles

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David J KentAs this web site continues to develop there will be periodic changes in structure and content.  Some of these changes will be BIG AND NOTICEABLE while others will be a wee bit less obvious.

One of those “wee bit” changes is the addition of a link on each of my individual pages that provide access to all of the posts on that page’s topic with a single click.

On my Abraham Lincoln page look at the bottom of the page “For a full list of my Abraham Lincoln posts click here.”

On my Nikola Tesla page look in the very first paragraph “For all my Tesla articles click here.”

On my Travel page look about two-thirds of the way down for “To get you started, you can click on this link or simply click on the “Travel” tag at the end of any travel post.”

I have also now provided my email address at the bottom of the About Me page.  [For those not familiar with spammers, just change the AT to @ and the DOT to . and close up the spaces so it looks like an actual email address.]

To keep up with all my posts you can subscribe via email on the home page (look under the calendar on the right hand side).