Nikola Tesla And Brilliance

Nikola Tesla is a man that many individuals associate with brilliance. Moreover, Tesla is a name that ignites impulses within an individual’s brain which illuminate, via bio-circuitry, the thought association of Tesla and brilliance, similar to the force we term as electricity. Brilliance however, shouldn’t be the only descriptive word to come to mind when thinking of one of the greatest engineers and inventors to live. Innovation and determination should be undoubtedly included in the list of descriptive words of Mr. Nikola Tesla. For without the innovative mind of Tesla, midcentury inventions as well as current technological advances would be nonexistent, or worse, credited to Thomas Edison.
Tesla was born in the year of 1856 in an area

located in present day Croatia. Telsa hailed from a town called Smiljan, which was at the time, part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Tesla’s father, Milutin Tesla, was a priest and writer whom attempted to coheres Tesla into ministry, though thankfully unsuccessful. Djuka Mandic, Tesla’s mother, was an inventor of sorts which revolved around household conveniences. She indisputably affected young Nikola in his vision of invention and engineer development. Tesla studied at, according to Bio (2016), “Realschle, Karlstadt, Polytechnic Institute in Graze, Austria, and the University of Prague during the 1870’s.” Whilst working in Budapest, Tesla fathomed the induction motor but could not manifest enough interest in the invention which was a major factor in his decision to relocate to the United States.
Tesla reached the United States of America in 1884 at the age of 28 with intentions of introducing himself to the famous Thomas Edison. Edison, at the time, was gaining a foothold in the United States with his direct current technology. After meeting Tesla, Edison hired him with hopes of capitalizing on Tesla’s innovation and brilliance. The two collaborated for a few months with the goal of furthering Edison’s direct current work. The relationship would be short termed though because the two engineers often clashed, some say due to drastically different personalities.
Conversing about electricity in any manner among fairly educated individuals often results in a Tesla-verses-Edison debate, or more familiar the AC verses DC competition. This is typically stemmed from the incanting show of electricity in the form of illumination at the 1893 World Expo in Chicago. The story goes as follows, both Edison and Tesla bid for the contract to light the World Expo in 1893, though due to Edison’s extremely large cost factor and significant heat byproduct, Tesla easily won the contract. Tesla essentially cost half as much and provided significantly more light than Edison could have ever hoped to. DC, at the time, was an extremely dangerous and expensive method of power transportation; two significant reasons which allowed Tesla to be a competitor with his alternating current technology. Edison would often electrocute animals at demonstrations, in attempts to blindly associate AC with hazards, though in actuality, it was DC responsible for the electrocutions. Simply put, Edison is attributed to creating the electric chair, while Tesla, in reality and ascending popularity, it responsible for current electricity.

After the stunning light show occurred at the World Expo, Tesla and his investor Westinghouse were the winners of the contract for the Niagara Falls’ turbines, utilizing alternating current. According to Scrivener (2015), “in 1895, the Westinghouse Company and Nicola Tesla built the first hydroelectric alternating current system at Niagara Falls. Tesla was determined that the awesome power of the Falls should be harnessed to the awesome power of polyphase alternating current.” It is said that Tesla envisioned the entire Niagara Falls system and designed it within his head, refraining from utilizing any type of drawings or schematics, and the system functioned flawlessly. The Niagara Falls project was a major point in Tesla’s career as an engineer and inventor, and upon completion the results only further enticed his mind to fathom a method of power delivery without the presence of bulky wires.
The drive of Tesla to engineer a method of wireless electrical transmission led him to the Pike’s Peak experiment. In 1900, his goal behind attempting to create a wireless system to transport electricity globally was free power. During his attempts at creating a system to deliver such, Tesla made a break through when he figured out that the earth could be used as a conductor of electricity. “In 1899, in Pike's Peak, Colorado, Tesla demonstrated the feasibility of transmitting electricity through the earth without the use of wires. He chose Pike's Peak because of its remote location, and the availability of electricity from a local power station,” Scrivener (2015). Although his direction was admirable and intention was good, funding soon diminished and the project bankrupted Tesla. The most identifying piece of technology Tesla created is the Tesla Coil. The Tesla Coil is a machine that converts energy into high voltage charges, which produce the famous electrical arcs and spectacular lightning bolts. These coils were utilized in wireless radio technology and even found use in some medical devices.
A quote from Tesla allows present day people a glimpse into the man who revolutionized the way we live our everyday lives is as follows: “money does not represent such a value as men have placed upon it.

All my money has been invested into experiments with which I have made new discoveries enabling mankind to have a little easier life,” Tesla (1927). This philosophy of Tesla hold true on both accounts, Tesla did make life easier for mankind and he did invest all his money attempting to accomplish that task. “Despite his accomplishments, however, Tesla died penniless and without the accolades that would he would ultimately earn over a century later,” according to Whipps (2014). Aside from the above quote which reminds us of how determined Tesla was, we have various technologies that current culture utilizes on an everyday basis which solidifies his importance on society. For example, Tesla is responsible solely for or developing the technology or methods which enable, alternating current, light, x-rays, radios, remote controls, electric motors, robotics, lasers, wireless communications and potential limitless free energy. An argument could be made that Tesla has had such a profound influence on our society that the inevitable switch to battery operated, fully automatized motor vehicles is led by a company which utilizes the brand name of

Tesla.
With minimal use of a constricted imagination, a world without the contributions from Tesla could be fathomed to be quite different than in actuality.

“The ‘genius who lit the world’ is now commemorated with an electrical unit called the Tesla, has a place in the inventor’s hall of fame, streets, statues, and a prestigious engineer’s award in his name, but in life he wasn’t always so successful,” according to Whipps (2014). Though if a person at random were to be asked whom might be the responsible party for mainstream electricity, they might not finger Tesla in the lineup. Benjamin Franklin might be the answer spouted off, or perhaps it may be Thomas Edison, and in some fashion both answers are on the right track. It would be all but asinine to refuse Tesla credit for all his achievements and contributions to advance current society through groundbreaking and revolutionary

practices.