Facts about nikola tesla

Nikola Tesla’s Early Years

Nikola Tesla is a Serbian physicist best known for his achievements in the field of chemistry, which he pursued with zeal at the age of fourteen. Tesla was recognized as a scholar during this period due to his fascination with studies and education. Early in his career, he experimented with water turbines and motors that used electric power derived from air pressure differentials (Palmer, 2009). Tesla’s main goal was to construct a perpetual-motion system that only needed a steady-state vacuum to work. While growing up, his father often wanted to work in the church, but Tesla’s interest was not in humans but humanity and advancing people’s lives by simplifying life itself.

University Years and Beyond

Upon entering university, Tesla was well acquainted with the knowledge of unknown forces, and this helped him in selecting his major in engineering. At the same time, Tesla studied other languages, and he was able to speak nine languages in the end. Furthermore, Tesla was an exceptional student in his day as he was able to know the works of Shakespeare, Goethe, and Spencer by heart (Palmer, 2009). In his college years, he worked on a mechanical machine, and he developed a great interest in alternating current (AC) as he understood that direct current (DC) was not efficient enough since it needed a direct and continuous flow of electrons from negative to positive poles (Thibault, 2013).

Changes and Meeting Thomas Edison

After the death of his father, he moved to Hungary and started working in a telephone company where he encountered the works of Edison. In this place, he learned many things relating to electromagnetic charge but soon moved to Paris where his work started taking shape as he would take machines apart with the aim of understanding how they could be improved. One of his developments during this time was the carbon disk speaker triggered by induction, still found in today’s telephones. He went ahead by advancing the systems of alternating currents and managed to design regulators for many companies, and this offered him an opportunity to work under Edison where he would learn and get a chance to enhance his inventions as well. It was, however, in 1893 that he succeed to illuminate Chicago World’s Fair by designing over 250,000 proficient light bulbs (IEEE, 1989). Niagara Falls Commission also authorized Tesla to generate AC from the Niagara Falls creating the first AC hydroelectric station. Still rising beyond his colleagues, Tesla developed a remote controlled boat in 1898 that later gave birth to fax machines, stereos, TV remotes and garage door openers (IEEE, 1989).

The Uncelebrated Achievement

In remembering Tesla and his great inventions, the bold futurist is well known in the field of physics where he advanced knowledge in circuits, electricity and mechanical design. However, he is not much applauded for the idea expressed around the 1930s, when he announced a great invention that would make war obsolete (Blakemore, 2016). The device known as death ray was a typical talk, especially during the World War I, as people grew weary of the way that resulted in the death of over 8 million people across the globe while leaving millions injured. As another war stood pending, the death ray was meant to be a defensive weapon that would instantly kill millions of an army making every nation safe from attacks. Tesla believed that with human lives at stake, the death ray was a solution to humanity’s biggest problem, ensuring peace (Blakemore, 2016).

Bibliography

Blakemore, E. (2016, July). Nikola Tesla and the Death Ray Craze | JSTOR Daily. Retrieved July 13, 2017, from https://daily.jstor.org/nikola-tesla-death-ray-craze

A news article from JSTOR explores the invention of the death ray developed by Nikola Tesla as he aimed to stop the pending World War II using already existing materials on the history of Tesla and his role in the world of science. The article tackles the significance of this invention as foreseen by Tesla and why the government refused to fund it. According to this news article, Tesla’s aim was to end all the war that was killing people across the globe, and despite the benefits this machine had in that era, Tesla is discussed as an individual whose primary interest was to create a safer earth. The news article will be helpful in advancing knowledge concerning one of Tesla’s greatest inventions while it advocates for the role of science in the society.

IEEE. (1989). Nikola Tesla Plaque - Nikola Teslas Life Achievements Honored by the IEEE. IEEE Power Engineering Review, 9(4), 13-15. doi:10.1109/mper.1989.4310561

This is a journal article with a short biography of Nikola Tesla and his life achievements. Most importantly, the journal explores the existing works of literature on the scientist’s success to develop an easy to understand documented achievements done and started by Nikola Tesla mainly after moving to the United States and after starting the Tesla company. The article explores inventions like AC electricity, radio, telephone advancements, electric cars, and the Tesla coil along other contributions he made to the field of physics. The journal article aligns with the topic of the final essay as it offers information concerning how Tesla contributed to the discipline of science. Besides, this paper provides knowledge on the various works of Nikola Tesla concerning modern day science.

Thibault, G. (2013). The Automatization of Nikola Tesla: Thinking Invention in the Late Nineteenth Century. Configurations, 21(1), 27-52. doi:10.1353/con.2013.0004

The article investigates the relationship between Nikola Tesla and the community of electrical engineering between the periods of the late 1800s until his time of death. This work goes a step ahead to arguments made by admirers of Nikola Tesla and highlights the outstanding achievements of the scientist in comparison to the works of other researchers in that time. The essay compares the competing representations relating to scientific inventions drawing from literature and popular press during the birth of transmission media which challenged the existing concepts of physical reality. Using this knowledge, it is possible to argue that Tesla was born in a time when the community needed him and used his ideas; he challenged the existing concepts while creating a better tomorrow.

Palmer, K. A. (2009). “Let There Be Light: An Exploration of the Life of Nikola Tesla.” Inquiries Journal/Student Pulse, 1(12). Retrieved from http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/a?id=98

This is an article illustrating a summary of the life and events that led to the genius Nikola Tesla later became. The writing explores the life of Tesla from when he was young, his life in college and university and how he ended up not only working under Thomas Edison but also becoming his competitor in the field of electrical engineering. The journal article will be relevant in the final essay as it highlights all the important events in both personal and scientific life of Nikola Tesla.

References

Blakemore, E. (2016, July). Nikola Tesla and the Death Ray Craze | JSTOR Daily. Retrieved July 13, 2017, from https://daily.jstor.org/nikola-tesla-death-ray-craze/

IEEE. (1989). Nikola Tesla Plaque - Nikola Teslas Life Achievements Honored by the IEEE. IEEE Power Engineering Review, 9(4), 13-15. doi:10.1109/mper.1989.4310561

Thibault, G. (2013). The Automatization of Nikola Tesla: Thinking Invention in the Late Nineteenth Century. Configurations, 21(1), 27-52. doi:10.1353/con.2013.0004

Palmer, K. A. (2009). ”Let There Be Light: An Exploration of the Life of Nikola Tesla.” Inquiries Journal/Student Pulse, 1(12). Retrieved from http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/a?id=98