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On July 10the, 1856 in Smiljan, Lika
(Croatia), to Orthodox Priest father and Household McGyver
mother, Nikola Tesla was born. Many believe the household
appliances Tesla's mother created and improved upon
spurred his curiosity and mounted his drive to become the
Inventor and Scientific Developer he came to be. Tesla
studied at the University of Prague, planning on a Physics
and Math degree but found his true calling in Electrical
Engineering. Upon graduating, Tesla began working for a
phone company in Budapest. It was during his time there
that he discovered and formulated this principle of the
induction motor - a solution to the problem for rotating
magnetic fields. Hoping to have an impact, he moved job
positions to the Continental Edison Co. (CEC), a company
founded by Thomas Edison to pioneer advancements in the
sciences. Tesla's main duty at CEC was to work on and
improve dynamos - a type of generator that converts
mechanical engineering into electricity. It was here that
Tesla was finally able to make a full working prototype of
an induction motor- a feat which had never been done
before. However, no one in Europe cared. Due to the
less-than-ecstatic reception of his findings, Tesla moved
to New York to work more directly for Edison with the
intent to harness energy from Niagara Falls. Tesla ended
up working for Edison at CEC for nearly 59 years. Over the years, Tesla accrued seven languages: Serbian, English, Czech, German, French, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin. Despite being 6'6" and not a bad looking man, Tesla remained celibate for his entire life; believing that women would only detract from his experiments and work. He also believed that he could only find true happiness when he was alone, concentrated in his lab. Too bad, for some believe the endless days and nights in his lab lead to the insanity that may have found him near the end. Reportedly, Tesla had periods of strong hallucinations, and frequently could not distinguish between reality and his imagination. He had been bouncing from one hotel to another, and the only consistent thing he held on to was feeding pigeons. He was always wildly reckless with his money, but he had no bounds when it came to getting a strong food supply for the birds that he believed relied on him. When Tesla died, he had been living off of milk and crackers for some time. The true "Tony Stark of the 19th Century" died alone in 1943. |