The Legend of Tragedies
Science is a very extensive and intensifying field. It’s fascinating and exhilarating. Through it, we can learn various natural phenomena and many secrets of the universe. However, it requires dedication, devotion, and passion. There were many people who did give all of their efforts and time to their dreams and ambitions. We know about some of them but a lot remained overlooked. Today, we are going to learn about a remarkable personality who changed the world with his vision. This a tribute on the occasion of his birthday to a magnificent mind, Nikola Tesla.
“My brain is only a receiver, in the universe, there is a core from which we obtain knowledge, strength, and inspiration”.
With such extraordinary thinking, Tesla became the inspiration for many people out there. Although, throughout his life journey, he faced many betrayals and deceptions. But that was not the beginning. All of this began on the 10th of July, 1856 in Croatia, then Austria. During his birth, there was a thunderstorm. The midwife said to his mother that the child must be evil as he came to this world during the thunderstorm, she even mentioned him the child of the dark. To which his mother politely replied that he would be the child of the light.
Even as a child, Tesla was different from others. When most of the kids were struggling to solve addition and subtraction, Tesla used to solve integral calculus in his head. He was gifted with an amazing mind. He had an eidetic memory and could visualize books to their brief details, like the content and its page number. With such a wonderful mind and his abilities, he finished high school early. But his parents were not so supportive of his studies. He suffered from cholera during his teen years and refused to get treatment if they did not allow him to study further. So his parents agreed and sent him to college for engineering.
At the age of 21, he scored the highest grades possible and topped the University. He could speak 8 different languages by then. Everyone praised him for his knowledge and elegant mind, even the Dean of the university used to call him the star student. Then he became an addict of gambling and lost all of his money that should be used for his studies. He managed to earn a few of it back but that was not ample. Due to the loss, he had to relinquish his studies as well as the college. He never graduated and didn’t receive grades for his last semester. To not raise the pressure on his family, he cut all ties to them. In 1880, he moved to Budapest and then finally America with 4 cents.
In 1882, Tesla worked for Thomas Edison at the Edison company after being rejected by a few jobs.
Edison was a magician of the words and intimidate people with his speech. He also knew how to portray something in order to sell it. After figuring out, he sold the light bulb by improving the ideas of 22 men. Around 1885, Tesla proposed to Edison that he could redesign his DC( Direct Current) motor and generator. Edison knew that his projects were ineffective, produced sparks when he tried to switch them on. He liked the idea and offered Tesla a million dollars for this work. After a lot of effort and knowing the fault in Edison’s motor, he fixed the motor which became much reliable and better working.
The DC motor of Edison fixed by Tesla is even used in today’s world in water pumps, disk drives, etc. When Tesla asked for the money, Edison refused by saying " You don’t understand American humor, do you?". Tesla felt terrible after being denied by the promise. He left the job from the Edison company. During that time, Electrical Revolution was on the verge of starting. Tesla knew that electricity could change the whole world. He became astonished by electricity and what it could do and commenced his research on Alternating Current(AC). The only problem he faced during his research was money. To solve that he started digging ditches for $2 per day. And after a lot of physical work, he understood it would be impossible for him to earn that much money. So he began to find some finances and struck up a deal with George Westinghouse.
On the other side, Edison was also working with electricity but with a different approach, Direct Current(DC) which was backed by a big name, General Electric. The problem with his operation was that DC couldn’t convey electricity over a long distance and even if it would do, it needed wires having a thickness of a human arm. In contrast to DC, Tesla’s AC system had benefits like transmitting current very far, needed thinner wires, produced higher voltages, and was durable. This had become a war and whoever wins could revolutionize the world with the biggest invention of all time, electricity.
By the year 1893, there were many business deals and tactics for purchasing better designs and ideas. Edison knew that Tesla’s innovation was way better than his, so he had to distract the public and present his invention as the better one. He paid some local boys to kidnap domestic animals. When he attracted the people, he electrocuted then in front of the public with AC. By his manipulation, he said that AC is very dangerous to be in our homes. Tesla understood his tricks and retorted by demonstrating his very famous experiment to make people realize that AC was safe by conducting current to his body and lighten up the light bulbs in his hand, at World fair in 1893.
After this, Tesla became popular and so does AC. His hard work finally paid off. His practical discoveries were the basis for technologies we use even today. He raised America as an industrial and economically well-established nation. Tesla designed AC motors, generators, transformers, and power transmission technologies emerging in the 25 most valuable and significant patents since the discovery of the telephone.
During his lifetime Tesla worked really hard and invented or laid the foundation of various incredible discoveries. The invention of the radio waves was based on the theories of Tesla. He said that radio waves could transmit information in 1893. Guglielmo Marconi who invented the long radio transmission used 17 of Tesla’s patents in his invention. He had discovered hydroelectricity, X-rays, and even an earthquake machine that would detect the natural frequency of any object and vibrate it furthermore to produce an earthquake. But one of his most ambitious projects was the Tesla tower.
He believed that if it worked he could provide free energy to the whole world by using Earth’s ionosphere as a part of the transmission device. However, the project failed due to several reasons including the money. The investor JP Morgan realized that he would not be benefitted from this discovery and also the radio transmission attracted him. So he ceased the finance and the project crumbled down.
This was the first failure of Tesla in his entire life. This led him to a declining path of shame and even more downfalls. He always wanted to improve the lives of others with his intentions. He even said,
“Money doesn’t mean as much to me as it does to others, all my money has gone into inventions to make man’s life a little easier”.
During his last years, he lost everything. An experiment burned down his laboratory. After that, he even suffered from OCD(Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) and insomnia. He even said he needed only two hours of sleep and could work all day after that. He became clinically insane before a few years from his death.
But over his life, Tesla achieved more than 100 patents and 700 inventions but despite all that, he died poor and alone. He died in 1943 in New York. Before ending this article I would like to thank him for all of his work and efforts and he really made a better world for all of us. His struggle and his inventions inspired people to be curious and be consistent in their field. He was a role model for many people. Happy Birthday to Nikola Tesla- The Master of Lightning.
“The present is theirs, the future for which I have really worked is mine”.
Finishing up with his words, also don’t let the spark of curiosity in you ever diminish. To know about your curiosity type click here.
