Last Updated on September 6, 2024
Born on July 10, 1856, Nikola Tesla has long been an enigmatic figure. He is perpetually included in the list of the world’s most influential inventors ever. His discoveries and experiments in the field of electricity were nothing short of brilliant and were way ahead of his time. His influence and teachings are continuously used to this day.
But despite his accomplishments when he was alive, Tesla died without accolades and credits. He was also penniless. He eventually earned much-deserved recognition, but only over a century after his death.
Here are a few highlights of Tesla’s fascinating life.
Nikola Tesla had the talent to visualize inventions and other strange visions.
Tesla had a tremendous gift for visualizing things down to their minutest details. He had the knack of imagining designs all in his head. As such, his work process was a bit different from other inventors. He rarely drew or sketched plans. Instead, he relied on his powerful imagination to develop and refine the details.
Since he was a child, Tesla would experience “flashes of light.” The visions were then followed by inspirations for his next project, or solutions to his problems. Although most would say that the visions were more of a spiritual experience, Tesla, being a man of science, discounted such interpretations. But he often used his visions for their scientific benefits.
Nikola Tesla pioneered various modern inventions.
Although Tesla is widely recognized for his electrical work, he had initiated and established many other significant inventions. For many years, he was a prominent figure in the “War of the Currents.”
Other leading inventors on this war are Thomas Edison – his previous employer, and later rival – and George Westinghouse – his ally. Edison pushed for the direct current (DC) while Tesla and Westinghouse championed the alternating current (AC). Eventually, AC prevailed over DC.
Tesla’s other significant industrial contributions include his pioneering work in wireless communications, electric light, and radar. He also worked on inventing the radio, the remote control, and the X-Ray. He tinkered on robotics, and ultimately created the Tesla coil, his famous transformer.
Most of this initial works were not properly recognized. Other investors received credit for the inventions he started. But over his lifetime, Tesla received 300 patents.
Nikola Tesla followed a tight schedule and is thought to have OCD.
Tesla had formidable work ethics. He kept a regimented schedule and almost always worked ‘round the clock. Some historians claim that he only slept two hours every day. He had his “own” table at Delmonico’s in NY, and later at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, where he routinely had dinner.
Tesla was a germaphobe. He needed a stack of 18 napkins so he’d able to eat his meal. He was also obsessed with the number three, and had the tendency to carry out compulsive actions relating to the number.
Nikola Tesla blew out power stations.
In 1899, Tesla moved his operations to Colorado to benefit from the vast space available to do his experiments. The El Paso Power Company also offered him free supply of AC power. His lab near the Colorado Springs utilized an 80-foot tower and a 142-foot metal mast. His gigantic Tesla coil was also a prominent tool in his lair.
At one point when he used all three tools, massive bolts of artificial lighting occurred. It caused wayward sparks and apparent thunder-like sounds 15 miles away. The event surprised the locals and frightened the animals, particularly horses.
The butterflies near his lab were experiment casualties. The bolts also overpowered the motors of a local power company and resulted in a blackout.
Nikola Tesla was a handsome man.
By all accounts, Tesla was physically attractive. He was tall (6” 2) and slender (140 pounds). He also had deep-set eyes and had an impeccable fashion sense. He was often described as a snappy dresser.
While he was always working and quite reclusive when he was in the zone, when he took breaks, he socialized a lot. He was friends with other famous people, notably Mark Twain. He also often drew the attention of the ladies. Historians even unearthed proof of love confessions from different women.
Despite this, Tesla never got married.
Nikola Tesla and his Wardenclyffe Tower will eventually be the Wardenclyffe Museum.
Wardenclyffe was the name of the supposed wireless transmission station on Long Island, if only Tesla beat Guglielmo Marconi in transmitting the first wireless message across the Atlantic Ocean.
But when Marconi successfully transmitted ‘s’ across the Atlantic first – and with only the use of a modest equipment – J.P. Morgan, who funded Tesla’s efforts, pulled his financial backing. This, along with other factors, resulted in the closing of the Wardenclyffe.
Much of the tower was destroyed in 1917, although the main building remained. It is mostly abandoned, but is sometimes used for industrial work. In 2012, The Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe, a nonprofit group, successfully organized a crowdfunding campaign to buy the property.
The deal was closed in 2013. The plan is to turn the property into a Tesla museum and an education center (mainly for Science). The site is yet to be opened to the public, but some parts are already being used for special events, like Tesla’s birthday.
Nikola Tesla’s brilliance translated into words.
Just have a look at this collection of Tesla’s famous quotes:
“So astounding are the facts in this connection, that it would seem as though the Creator, himself had electrically designed this planet…” – Nikola Tesla
“Most certainly, some planets are not inhabited, but others are, and among these there must exist life under all conditions and phases of development.” – Nikola Tesla
“The scientific man does not aim at an immediate result. He does not expect that his advanced ideas will be readily taken up. His work is like that of the planter—for the future. His duty is to lay the foundation for those who are to come, and point the way.” – Nikola Tesla
“If your hate could be turned into electricity, it would light up the whole world.” – Nikola Tesla
“Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments.” – Nikola Tesla
“But instinct is something which transcends knowledge. We have, undoubtedly, certain finer fibers that enable us to perceive truths when logical deduction, or any other willful effort of the brain, is futile.” – Nikola Tesla
“Of all things, I liked books best.” – Nikola Tesla
“I do not think you can name many great inventions that have been made by married men.” – Nikola Tesla
“The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine.” – Nikola Tesla
“The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane.” – Nikola Tesla
“What we now want is closer contact and better understanding between individuals and communities all over the earth, and the elimination of egoism and pride which is always prone to plunge the world into primeval barbarism and strife… Peace can only come as a natural consequence of universal enlightenment…” – Nikola Tesla
“I don’t care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don’t have any of their own.” – Nikola Tesla
“The day science begins to study non-physical phenomena, it will make more progress in one decade than in all the previous centuries of its existence.” – Nikola Tesla
“If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.” – Nikola Tesla
“My brain is only a receiver, in the Universe there is a core from which we obtain knowledge, strength and inspiration. I have not penetrated into the secrets of this core, but I know that it exists.” – Nikola Tesla
“Our virtues and our failings are inseparable, like force and matter. When they separate, man is no more.” – Nikola Tesla
“I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success . . . Such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything.” – Nikola Tesla
“Life is and will ever remain an equation incapable of solution, but it contains certain known factors.” – Nikola Tesla
“All that was great in the past was ridiculed, condemned, combated, suppressed – only to emerge all the more powerfully, all the more triumphantly from the struggle.” – Nikola Tesla
“I am credited with being one of the hardest workers and perhaps I am, if thought is the equivalent of labour, for I have devoted to it almost all of my waking hours. But if work is interpreted to be a definite performance in a specified time according to a rigid rule, then I may be the worst of idlers.” – Nikola Tesla
“What one man calls God, another calls the laws of physics.” – Nikola Tesla
“It’s not the love you make. It’s the love you give.” – Nikola Tesla
“As I review the events of my past life I realize how subtle are the influences that shape our destinies.” – Nikola Tesla
“The progressive development of man is vitally dependent on invention. It is the most important product of his creative brain.” – Nikola Tesla
“My method is different. I do not rush into actual work. When I get an idea I start at once building it up in my imagination. I change the construction, make improvements, and operate the device entirely in my mind.” – Nikola Tesla
“I had a veritable mania for finishing whatever I began, which often got me into difficulties.” – Nikola Tesla
“Every living being is an engine geared to the wheelwork of the universe. Though seemingly affected only by its immediate surroundings, the sphere of external influence extends to infinite distance.” – Nikola Tesla
“Inventors don’t have time for married life.” – Nikola Tesla
“So astounding are the facts in this connection, that it would seem as though the Creator, himself had electrically designed this planet…” – Nikola Tesla
“So we find that the three possible solutions of the great problem of increasing human energy are answered by the three words: food, peace, work. Many a year I have thought and pondered, lost myself in speculations and theories, considering man as a mass moved by a force, viewing his inexplicable movement in the light of a mechanical one, and applying the simple principles of mechanics to the analysis of the same until I arrived at these solutions, only to realize that they were taught to me in my early childhood.” – Nikola Tesla
“Progress along such lines will be impossible while nations persist in the savage practice of killing each other off. I inherited from my father, an erudite man who labored hard for peace, an ineradicable hatred of war.” – Nikola Tesla
“You may live to see man-made horrors beyond your comprehension.” – Nikola Tesla
“The gift of mental power comes from God, Divine Being, and if we concentrate our minds on that truth, we become in tune with this great power.” – Nikola Tesla
“Most persons are so absorbed in the contemplation of the outside world that they are wholly oblivious to what is passing on within themselves.” – Nikola Tesla
“From childhood I was compelled to concentrate attention upon myself. This caused me much suffering, but to my present view, it was a blessing in disguise for it has taught me to appreciate the inestimable value of introspection in the preservation of life, as well as a means of achievement.” – Nikola Tesla
“In no way can we get such an overwhelming idea of the grandeur of Nature than when we consider, that in accordance with the law of the conservation of energy, throughout the Infinite, the forces are in a perfect balance, and hence the energy of a single thought may determine the motion of a universe.”- Nikola Tesla
“Be alone, that is the secret of invention; be alone, that is when ideas are born.” – Nikola Tesla
“We crave for new sensations but soon become indifferent to them. The wonders of yesterday are today common occurrences”- Nikola Tesla
“Invention is the most important product of man’s creative brain. The ultimate purpose is the complete mastery of mind over the material world, the harnessing of human nature to human needs.” – Nikola Tesla
“The individual is ephemeral, races and nations come and pass away, but man remains.” – Nikola Tesla
