Early Life Tesla was born on July 9, 1856 in Smiljan, the Austrian Empire. His parents were both Serbian. His father was an Orthodox priest, poet and author who pushed for him to join the priesthood, wherease the young Tesla wanted to go into electrical engineering.  He attributed most of his creative talents to his mother, who made several practical devices to help their family on the farm.  Tesla was cappable of doing integral calculas in his head, an ability that lead his teachers to accuse him of cheating in school.  At age 17 he contracted Cholera,leading his father to decide that if he survived the disease, he would be allowed to study engineering as he had wanted.  After overcoming the disease, he went on to study at the Austrian Polytechnic School at Graz.  Age 24 Tesla worked for the Central Telephone Exchange in Budapest where he first designed the induction motor. Unable to obtaint the funding for its developement, he emigrated to the United States in 1884.