Nikola Tesla Biography

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The Man with the Power Nikola Tesla, did his inventions influence America enough that he should be formerly recognized in the top 100 most influential Americans? Tesla was born in what is now Croatia and moved to the United States at the mere age of twenty-eight and briefly worked with Thomas Edison. After Tesla had parted ways with Edison due to their conflicting personalities, Tesla went on to invent the alternating-current system, the hydroelectric power plant, and his most well-known invention the Tesla Coil. “Throughout his career, Tesla discovered, designed and developed ideas for a number of important inventions — most of which were officially patented by other inventors — including dynamos (electrical generators similar to batteries) and the induction motor. He was also a pioneer in the discovery of radar technology, X-ray technology, remote control and the rotating magnetic field” (BI) Our world we know today would be drastically different without Nikola Tesla. Tesla was one of five children by his mother, Djuka Mandic, who was an inventor of small household appliances in her spare time as well as his father, Milutin Tesla, who was a Serbian orthodox priest and a writer. Nikola’s interests still laid in the sciences despite his father pushing …show more content…

Westinghouse licensed Tesla’s patents for $60,000 in stocks and cash and royalties based on how much electricity was sold. Later, fearing ruin, Westinghouse begged Tesla for relief from the royalties Westinghouse agreed to. “Your decision determines the fate of the Westinghouse Company,” he said. Tesla, grateful to the man who had never tried to swindle him, tore up the royalty contract, walking away from millions in royalties that he was already owed and billions that would have accrued in the future. He would have been one of the wealthiest men in the world—a titan of the Gilded Age.

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