The Tesla Family in Lika
About the region of Lika no one would ever hear, let alone about the small village of Smiljan, if it wasn’t for Nikola Tesla. He was born on July 10, 1856. The Tesla family originates from the beginnings of the organization of the Serbian Orthodox Church on the territory of Croatia (Lika), which coincided with the period of the Long War (1593-1606) when the number of Serbian people and their priests was significantly enlarged in these areas. In the beginning of the seventeenth century many Serbian Orthodox monasteries were erected in the region of Lika and Slavonija.
Milutin Tesla, Nikola’s father, was a priest and president of a Serbian Orthodox Church, while his mother, Djuka Mandic, of the same Serbian heritage - daughter of a Serbian Orthodox priest as well - was an inventor of household appliances. Later in his interviews Nikola always said that he inherited the inventive genius and his photographic memory form his mother Djuka.
Nikola Tesla’s early childhood and visions
There were four children in Tesla’s household and Nikola was the youngest. His genius was noticed early. He was only five years old when he started to make original inventions, and at the age of six he built a small waterwheel. At seven he started to train his will. After only a few years his will and desire became one and he said: “After some years of such discipline, I was able to completely control myself. I could have easily played with my passions and vices, which could have destroyed even the strongest man.”
There was another ‘mystical psychological disorder’ that Nikola Tesla had. He explained it as "a peculiar affliction caused by the appearance of images, often accompanied by strong flashes of light which brought along a vision of real objects and interfered with my thoughts and actions. They were pictures of things and scenes I had really seen, not just imagined. When a word was spoken to me, the image of the object it designated would present itself vividly to my vision and sometimes I was quite unable to distinguish if what I have seen was tangible or not. This caused me a great deal of discomfort and anxiety."
He learned to use this ability to design his inventions in his head.
Tesla’s schooling in Graz and Prague
Tesla commenced his studies at the Polytechnic Institute in Graz, Austria and shortly after that at the University of Prague.
After graduating he began his career with a telephone company in Budapest in 1881 as an electrical engineer.
His mind was always absent, immersed in his thoughts and inventions. One day in 1882, while walking with a friend and talking about the mundane matters, in a Belgrade park, Tesla abruptly froze in mid-step and mid-sentence. A new concept of AC (alternating current of energy) equipment, long forming in the background of his thoughts, had suddenly crystallized in his mind. His friend wanted to help him to a bench to sit down, but Tesla refused to relax until he had traced a drawing of a new AC motor design in the sand in the park.
In 1883, he built a prototype of the induction motor and ran it very successfully but was unable to arouse interest for his radical device in Europe, hence he accepted an offer to work for Thomas Edison in New York. He had already joined the Continental Edison Company in Paris where he designed dynamos a year earlier.
Tesla arrives in New York
In 1884, a young Nikola Tesla arrived in the United States.
Tesla presented his drawing before the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. Much more than just a new motor, this was a completely new principle for handling AC power, a "new scientific principle of stunning simplicity and utility," which soon was to sweep the world.
Association and rivalry with Thomas Alva Edison
"Tesla came over from Graz and went to work for Thomas Edison. Edison couldn't stand Tesla for several reasons. One was that Tesla showed up for work every day in formal dress - morning coat, spats, top hat and gloves - and this just wasn't the American Way at the time. Edison also hated Tesla because Tesla invented so many things while wearing these clothes.”
Laurie Anderson, "Dance of Electricity"
But it was more to it than Tesla’s ‘formal dress’ that brought on the disagreements between the two men. It was there, while Tesla worked in Edison’s laboratory in New Jersey, that their separation of opinion over direct current versus alternating current began. The Battle of Currents was the climax as Edison fought a losing battle to protect his investments in direct current equipment and facilities.
The direct current flows in one direction continuously. The alternating current changes direction 50 or 60 times per second and it can be stepped up to very high voltage levels, minimizing power loss across great distances, thus the future belonged to the alternating current.
It was Nikola Tesla who developed the polyphase alternating current system of generators, motors and transformers. He held 40 basic US patents on the system and Westinghouse bought his patent determined to supply America with Tesla’s system.
"Mr. Westinghouse, you have been my friend, you believed in me when others had no faith; you were brave enough to go ahead... when others lacked courage; you supported me when even your own engineers lacked vision... you have stood by me as a friend...”
In 1882, Tesla discovered the rotating magnetic field. The rotating magnetic field is a core principle in physics and the basis of all devices that use the alternating current. His AC induction motor is used throughout the world equally in household appliances as in industry.
In 1893, at the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Tesla astonished the world by demonstrating the phenomenon of alternating current electricity.
God said “Let Tesla be and all was light”
Vice President of the Institute of Electrical Engineers, Mr Behrend, in his speech while presenting Tesla with the Edison medal said: "Were we to seize and eliminate from our industrial world the result of Mr. Tesla's work, the wheels of industry would cease to turn, our electric cars and trains would stop, our towns would be dark and our mills would be idle and dead. His name marks an epoch in the advance of electrical science." Mr. Behrend ended his speech with a paraphrase of Pope's lines on Newton: "Nature and nature's laws lay hid by night. God said "Let Tesla be and all was light."
Nikola Tesla was a pioneer in a large number of fields and AC power was only one of them. His body of patents ranges through diverse fields such as robotics, fluid dynamics, X-rays, turbines, wireless communications, radar, artificial lighting and computer systems.
The developers of integrated circuits for modern computers discovered that some of the basic logic gates they desired to implement and patent on silicon had already been implemented and patented, by Tesla, in 1903, using AC-based components.
Tesla died in New York, alone and penniless
In 1943, Nikola Tesla had died in New York, in his hotel room alone and almost penniless.
Unfortunately, the name of the great inventor and genius Nikola Tesla isn’t known widely. Rarely is he given credit for the enormous variety of his inventions.
Today scientists are still puzzled by many of Tesla’s experiments, such as the artificial creation of all lighting, but it still remains to be witnessed what other scientific advances were anticipated by Nicola Tesla more than a century ago.
Nikola Tesla’s Awards and Recognitions
In 1917, Tesla was awarded the Edison Medal, the most coveted electrical prize in the United States.
The name of Nikola Tesla has been honored with an International Unit of Magnetic Flux.
Tesla was inducted into the Inventor's Hall of Fame in 1975.
The United States Postal Service honored Tesla with a commemorative stamp in 1983.
The Nikola Tesla Award is one of the most distinguished honors presented by the Institute of Electrical Engineers. The award has been given annually since 1976.
The Nikola Tesla corner sign, located at the intersection of 40th Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan, is a constant reminder to all New Yorkers of the greatness of this genius.
The Nikola Tesla Statue is located on Goat Island to honor the man who is known as the inventor of the polyphase alternating current.
The Museum Nikola Tesla in Belgrade
In 1952, The Museum Nikola Tesla was established in Belgrade.
The Museum Nikola Tesla is a unique cultural and scientific institution that keeps over 160,000 original documents and over 2000 books and periodicals, more than 1500 photographs, original inventions and patents and over 1000 drawings and sketches.
Restoration of Nikola Tesla’s home in Smiljan
In 2006, the Croatian government restored Nikola Tesla's birth home and his Serbian Orthodox Church in Smiljan, Lika, Croatia where he was baptized. The restoration took place due to the 150th anniversary of Nikola Tesla’s birth.
Sources:
http://www.teslasociety.com/biography.htm
http://www.tesla-museum.org/
Branka Cubrilo - Branka Cubrilo is a novelist, short story writer and a journalist. Her novels and short stories are published worldwide.
