Whether you are taking physics tuition or just interested in physics, you would surely have heard about Nikola Tesla, regarded as many as one of the prominent scientists of all time. But who he was actually?
Well, this post is all you need to become familiar with Nikola Tesla, an inventor, electrical engineer, physicist, mechanical engineer and futurist best known for his important contributions to designing of modern AC (alternating current) electricity supply system.
Shared are some important facts about the man, his contributions, background and much more. So let’s dig in.
- Nikola Tesla was born in the Austrian Empire on 10th July 1856. His academic career in Europe was checkered, to say the least. Before moving to the United States, where he started off working for Thomas Edison, Tesla had worked in the capacity of a telegrapher and electrician in Europe.
- Can’t imagine your life without the TV remote? Well, then you have one man to thank—Nikola Tesla. He made it possible to develop many electrical items on which today we heavily rely on. The list includes, apart from the TV remote, neon and fluorescent lights, x-rays, laser beams, robotics, computers, smartphones, and alternating current.
- Tesla believes his parents, especially his mother, played a huge role in his success. According to Telsa, his mother was a first-rate inventor who would have made a huge mark if she hadn’t lived untouched by the modern way of life.
- New York City was home to Tesla for 60 long years. There’s a corner in downtown Manhattan named after him. Nikola Tesla Corner is close to the scientist’s laboratory.
- One of earliest inventions of Tesla was Tesla coil. He invented it in 1891, and in the same year, he received a U.S. citizenship. A kind of electric circuit, Tesla coils generate low current, high voltage electricity. These coils are used in televisions, radios, for wireless transmission, and several other devices. Tesla had an experimental station in Colorado where a coil created by him created sparks that were 30 feet high. You could see the sparks from several miles away.
- There was a huge war between alternating current, which Tesla favored, and Edison favored direct current. What was stake was the electrical system of the whole country. Thomas Edison wanted direct current to be used so he claimed alternating current was extremely dangerous and people could get killed because of it. To counter the argument and to win the opinion of the experts and public, Nikola Telsa publicly subjected himself to electrical shocks of 250,000-volt to show that AC is safe. Guess what, AC came out as the winner.
- As you might know from your JC Physics tuition classes, the very first hydroelectrical power station was designed by Tesla in Niagara Falls to harness the amazing power of this world-famous waterfall. It took three years to complete the construction. First to get power were homes in the Buffalo area on 16th Nov 1896. Today there’s a statue of Nikola Tesla on Goat Island, overlooking Niagara Falls.
