Nikolai Tesla

Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla, c. 1896
Born	(1856-07-10)10 July 1856 Smiljan, Austrian Empire (modern-day Croatia)
Died	7 January 1943(1943-01-07) (aged 86) New York City, New York, United States
Cause of death	Coronary thrombosis
Citizenship	Austrian (1856–1891) American (1891–1943)
Education	Graz University of Technology (abandoned)
Engineering career
Discipline	Electrical engineering, Mechanical engineering
Projects	Alternating current, high-voltage, high-frequency power experiments
Significant design	Induction motor Rotating magnetic field Tesla coil Radio remote control vehicle (torpedo)
Awards	Order of St. Sava, II Class, Government of Serbia (1892) Elliott Cresson Medal (1894) Order of Prince Danilo I (1895) Edison Medal (1916) Order of St. Sava, I Class, Government of Yugoslavia (1926) Order of the Yugoslav Crown (1931) John Scott Medal (1934) Order of the White Eagle, I Class, Government of Yugoslavia (1936) Order of the White Lion, I Class, Government of Czechoslovakia (1937) University of Paris Medal (1937) The Medal of the University St. Clement of Ochrida, Sofia, Bulgaria (1939)
Signature

External video

Booknotes interview with Jill Jonnes on Empires of Light, October 26, 2003, C-SPAN

Nikola Tesla (Serbian Cyrillic: Никола Тесла; 10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) was a Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, physicist, and futurist who is best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system.

Born and raised in the Austrian Empire, Tesla received an advanced education in engineering and physics in the 1870s and gained practical experience in the early 1880s working in telephony and at Continental Edison in the new electric power industry. He emigrated to the United States in 1884, where he would become a naturalized citizen. He worked for a short time at the Edison Machine Works in New York City before he struck out on his own. With the help of partners to finance and market his ideas, Tesla set up laboratories and companies in New York to develop a range of electrical and mechanical devices. His alternating current (AC) induction motor and related polyphase AC patents, licensed by Westinghouse Electric in 1888, earned him a considerable amount of money and became the cornerstone of the polyphase system which that company would eventually market.

Attempting to develop inventions he could patent and market, Tesla conducted a range of experiments with mechanical oscillators/generators, electrical discharge tubes, and early X-ray imaging. He also built a wireless-controlled boat, one of the first ever exhibited. Tesla became well known as an inventor and would demonstrate his achievements to celebrities and wealthy patrons at his lab, and was noted for his showmanship at public lectures.