Nikola Tesla - a Man Who Created Nowaday World
Have you ever heard about Nikola Tesla? In the essay about Nikola Tesla we will briefly look at his life and what achievements he had done. Nikola Tesla, born on July 10, 1856, in Smiljan, Croatia, is one of the most outstanding yet underappreciated inventors ever. Tesla's father was a caring but strict Orthodox priest, writer, and poet. Tesla's mother designed machines to help with the family’s farm. Tesla credited his mother with his predilection for inventing. Tesla was homeschooled at first but later attended Realschule, Karlstadt. At this time, Tesla saw a print of Niagra Falls and dreamed of going there one day and using the falls to capture energy. Tesla attended the Polytechnic School at Graz, Austria, to study mechanical and electrical engineering and the University of Prague to study philosophy. After finishing his studies, Tesla moved to Budapest to work for the Central Telephone Exchange. In 1882, Tesla came up with the idea of the induction motor while on a walk with a friend. After moving from country to country for work, Tesla decided to move to the United States at the age of 28 to meet his hero, Thomas Edison. With nothing but four cents with him, Tesla moved to New York City. This decision would forever change his life.
After moving to New York, we begin to see Tesla’s genius that changed American history forever. Tesla pitched his idea of alternating currents and Edison hired him. Edison told Tesla that he would pay him $50,000 if he improved on designs of Edison’s direct current. After months of research, Tesla left the job after he presented the design to Edison and Edison claimed that the $50,000 offer was an American joke. After quitting, Tesla became very poor, digging ditches as a job. However, some investors finally believed in his idea of the alternating current and he succeeded in developing it. Tesla received over 30 patents for the invention and caught the attention of entrepreneur and inventor of railroad air brakes George Westinghouse Jr. Westinghouse bought Tesla’s patents for $60,000, $2.50 per horsepower of electrical capacity sold, and 150 shares of stock in his business. When alternating currents began to grow in popularity, Edison started the famous ‘War of Currents’ to determine whether his direct current or Tesla’s alternating current was better. A series of competitions occurred where each person attempted to show the other’s invention as inferior, including the time when Edison used AC on the world’s first electric chair to show that it is a dangerous invention. This ‘war’ continued until an event called The Chicago world’s Fair, which was the first all-electric fair in history, happened in 1891. Out of the many wanting to light the fair, Westinghouse’s corporation won the bid, and Westinghouse and Tesla finished the task with extreme success. It became apparent then and there that alternating currents were the better choice. After the fair, Tesla continued doing great things. He achieved his childhood dream of producing energy from Niagra Falls by installing AC generators and effectively creating the world’s first hydroelectric power plant. Not to mention, he invented the tesla coil, tesla turbine, magnifying transmitter, electric oscillators, radio-controlled boats, and was even involved in the making of the radio. Tesla has built some of the most important inventions that we still use today. In fact, ever since the Chicago World’s Fair, more than 80 percent of all the electrical devices ordered in the United States were for alternating current.
To sum up, almost every electrical device around us is working thanks to Nikola Tesla’s brilliant alternating current. However, it is extremely unfortunate that one of the most influential scientists in American history still does not get the credit that he fully deserves.
