TESLA, NIKOLA Inventor-Physicist-Radio-Alternating Current

Nikola Tesla was born on July 10, 1856 in Smiljan, Croatia; he died on January 7, 1943 in New York.He was an Electrical engineer and physicist.

Contribution to science: Tesla designed and patented the polyphase system of alternating current dynamos, transformers and motors. In 1889, Tesla independently off ered a detailed scientif ic description of the magnetic field before G. Ferraris. Tesla patented the rotating field motor in 1888. In 1891 Tesla invented the "Tesla coil" which is still widely used in radio and television sets today. He also invented a system of arc lighting and a generator for high frequency currents. Tesla, not Marconi, invented the principles of the radio in 1893, although Marconi is generally credited with having achieved this feat in 1895. Tesla also invented the incredible bladeless turbine. Tesla introduced the principles of robotics and computers. Also, he invented a high potential magnifying transmitter.

In 1917, he received the Edison Medal -the highest honour the American Institute of Electrical Engineers gives. Tesla had also received degrees from Columbia and Yale Universities in his honour. In 1956, a century after Tesla's birth, the term "Tesla" (T) was adopted as the unit! of magnetic flux density.

Nikola Tesla was born to Milutin Tesla (an Orthodox priest) and Djuka (Mandic) Tesla. In 1863, his family moved to Gospic, where he went to grammar school and then went on to graduate from the Law High School. He then graduated from the Higher Law School in Karlovac. Tesla then entered the Joanneum, the polytechnical college of Graz, Austria. In 1879, he entered the University of Prague, Czechoslovakia, to study engineering (unofficial). After the death of his father, Tesla left university without graduating.

In 1884, Tesla moved to the United States of America and became an American citizen in 1889. Tesla's family has some Serbian origin. In 1917, Tesla was asked to sign, with prominent Serb scientists, a message of unity for American Serbs. He politely asked that they excuse him as a signer. Tesla, however, did associate with some Serbs because of his religion.

After leaving university, Tesla worked as a telephone company engineer in Budapest, Hungary. From 1882 to 1884, he went to work in Paris for the Continental Edison Company. In 1883, while on assignment in Strasbourg (then Germany, now in France), he built a crude prototype of his afternating current motor in after-work hours. In 1884, he found employment with Thomas Edison, but left later since Edison went back on a promise to pay him $50,000 for a particular invention. Tesla then went into the inventing business himself. The Tesla Electric Light Company was formed where he developed the Tesla arc lamp, but was later forced out of the company. In 1888, Tesla applied for and got the patent covering the use and generation of alternating current electricity. Edison and Marconi continually tried to damage Tesla's alternating current electricity reputation (since Edison supported and had great economic interest in direct current electricity only). Edison at one time tried to discredit Tesla's A.C. system by half -killing a condemned man with an A.C. electric chair, before he increased the current to kill him (1890). George Westinghouse, head of Westinghouse Electric Company, bought the patents for Tesla's A.C. system in 1888. In 1893, the Chicago World Columbian Exposition was lighted by means of Tesla's system.

In 1898, Tesla gave many demonstrations of marvels, such as an exhibition of radio-guided tele-automatic boats which filled Madison Square Gardens. He anticipated radio-guided missiles and aircraft. The large-scale harnessing of Niagara Falls has Tesla's name and patent numbers (built 1895-1903). From 1899 to 1900, Tesla actually proved the earth was a conductor.

In 1900, Tesla began work on a worldwide communication system and a 200 foot transmission tower on Long Island. But in 1905, Morgan, a financial backer, withdrew support and the project ended.

In 1917, Tesla was disappointed when a report that he and Edison were to share the Nobel Prize was false. The same year he accurately forecast radar.

In later life, Tesla continued to invent scientifically and commercially important devices, but received little profit (since he seldom took out a patent). In 1943, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the initial finding that was in Marconi's favour to rule that Tesla's radio patent came first. However, encyclopaedias generally neglect this information. Edison (a direct current supporter) even admitted that he stole patents in his lifetime.

Tesla still remains one of the least recognised scientific pioneers in history. Even though Tesla was one of the strangest scientists (erratic with many bewildering phobias), he was naturally gifted and helped quicken the advancement of science. Tesla died a poor man with nothing but some pet pigeons.

11ija D. Sutalo

Klokan

May 1991

Australia