How awesome is Nikola Tesla?
On June 6, 1884, a cruise ship from France slowly docked at the port of New York.
On the deck of the cruise ship, there stood a handsome but sloppily dressed young man. His eyes were full of excitement and curiosity about this strange city.
At that time, the young man only had 4 cents in his pocket. Apart from that, there is only one letter of recommendation left.
The recommendation letter was written to the famous inventor and entrepreneur Thomas Edison. It contains this sentence:
"I know two great people, one is you, The other is this young man."
Yes, this young man who came to New York alone is the protagonist of this article - a great inventor, physicist, mechanical engineer, and electrical engineer. Nikola Tesla.
Everyone should be familiar with the three words "Tesla".
Over the years, legendary entrepreneur Elon Musk and his Tesla electric car and energy company have been reported by the media every day. It can be said that everyone knows about it.
The reason why Musk named the company "Tesla" is to pay tribute to Nikola Tesla.
How awesome should a great idol be?
In addition to being a company name, students studying science and engineering will also know that Tesla is the unit of magnetic flux density (magnetic induction intensity), and its symbol is T, 1T=10000Gs (Gauss, Gauss). This unit is also dedicated to the memory of Nikola Tesla.
Tesla has long been regarded as one of the most legendary figures in the history of science. Many compare him to Leonardo da Vinci.
There are too many rumors and anecdotes surrounding him. Some people say that he invented the death ray and the flying saucer; others say that he predicted the outbreak of World War I; many people even firmly believe that the famous Tunguska explosion was his masterpiece.
What kind of person is Tesla? Is he really that godly? Which rumors about him are true and which are false?
In today’s article, let us get to know this mysterious scientific genius.
Tesla was born on July 10, 1856, in the village of Smiljan (Smiljan) near the town of Gospic, Lika Province, Austria-Hungary.
Tesla’s parents were both Serbian. His father's name was Rev. Milutin Tesla, an Orthodox priest. His mother's name was Djuka Mandic, the daughter of another priest.
There is another story about Tesla’s birth. It is said that on the day Tesla was born, the local area encountered a rare thunderstorm. Then the midwife said: "This child is the child of the storm." Tesla's mother immediately corrected him: "No, he is the Son of Light."
Tesla is the second eldest child in the family, with one brother and three sisters. In 1863, his brother Dane died in a riding accident, which brought great mental stimulation to Tesla, who was only 7 years old at the time. He told the adults that he had seen a "vision." This was later believed to be the first sign of Tesla's mental illness.
In addition to sometimes being nagging, Tesla is still a smart child, and it is said that his memory is particularly good.
In 1866, 10-year-old Tesla came to the town of Gospich to attend junior high school. He showed such amazing talent in mathematics that his teachers often suspected him of cheating in exams.
From 1871 to 1874, Tesla attended high school in Karlovac.
In 1875, 19-year-old Tesla entered the Graz University of Technology in Austria to study physics, mathematics and mechanics. It was during this period that he developed a keen interest in electricity.
Due to financial reasons (some say mental problems), Tesla was forced to interrupt his university studies in the second year.
In 1877, Tesla entered the University of Prague. Two years later he found a job as an assistant engineer in Maribor. Soon after, he returned to Prague University to continue his studies and officially graduated in 1880.
In 1881, Tesla came to Budapest to work as an engineer at the newly established Hungarian Telegraph Office. Because of his excellent work ability, he soon became a manager.
In April 1882, in pursuit of better development, the 26-year-old Tesla came to Paris, France.
He found a job at Compagnie Continental Edison as a trainee engineer.
Edison Multinational Corporation is a branch of the United States headquartered in Europe. Its founder is the famous inventor and entrepreneur Thomas Edison.
In 1881, Edison's company demonstrated its DC power and lighting system at the Paris Electrical Exhibition, which caused a sensation across the European continent. As a result, orders came in from all over Europe to purchase their products.
However, at the launch ceremony of the lighting system at the train station in Strasbourg, Germany, a catastrophic accident occurred - a throwing switch caused an explosion that blew out a wall of the train shed. .
Tesla, who could speak German, was in danger and was sent by the company to deal with the problem. The company leaders also promised that if the problem is solved, there will be generous bonuses.
Later, with Tesla’s efforts, the problem was solved. While solving the problem, he also built the first model of an induction motor.
However, when Tesla returned to Paris, the company refused to pay the previously promised bonus, leaving Tesla disappointed.
Soon after, the general manager of the branch, Charles Barcello, wrote a letter of recommendation to Tesla, "suggesting" that Tesla go to the United States for development.
Hence, the scene at the beginning of this article.
After arriving in New York, Tesla met Edison as he wished. Edison recognized Tesla's talent and allowed him to work in his laboratory.
During this period, Tesla repeatedly recommended his induction motor and multi-phase alternating current inventions to Edison, but did not arouse Edison's interest.
At that time, all of Edison's attention was focused on direct current. The reason why he gave up AC was not because of ignorance, but because most of his company's products and systems were based on DC. If you switch to AC, there will be huge economic losses.
In desperation, Tesla could only continue to improve DC power for Edison.
Tesla’s work was fruitful, and many of his designs improved the efficiency and control capabilities of the system. However, when Tesla proposed increasing the weekly salary from $18 to $25, the company rejected it.
Later, Edison promised Tesla a bonus of $50,000 (equivalent to $1 million today) if he could improve some existing problems with the company's DC motors. As a result, just after Tesla solved the problem, Edison broke his promise again. He said: "When you (Tesla) become a mature American, you will like Americans. It’s a joke.”
It’s obvious that I’m just kidding you, so what else is there to say, just resign! Soon, Tesla resigned from the company and parted ways with Edison.
After resigning, Tesla established Tesla Lighting and Manufacturing Company with two friends and applied for some patents. However, Tesla did not have much business acumen, and he was soon defrauded of his patents and kicked out of the company.
Tesla, who had nothing, was forced to do manual labor (digging trenches) for two years, earning only $2 a day.
In 1887, Tesla made a comeback. With the help of two investors, he founded Tesla Electric Company. He established a laboratory in Manhattan where he developed and perfected his own AC induction motor. This time, he applied for more than 30 patents in one breath.
AC VS DC, who is the final winner?
In 1888, Tesla was invited by the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (the predecessor of IEEE) to give a lecture on alternating current. His speech attracted the attention of famous entrepreneur George Westinghouse.
Westinghouse was the founder of the Westinghouse Company and a competitor of Edison.
In July 1888, Tesla sold alternating current-related invention patents to Westinghouse and spent a year coaching Westinghouse engineers.
Later, Westinghouse launched the world's first AC power system near Boston, officially starting the "War of Current" with Edison.
Regarding alternating current and direct current, there is actually no technical distinction between high and low. The characteristics of the two are very obvious. AC power is easy to transform, has low transmission loss, and is low cost, but dangerous; DC power has large loss, short transmission distance, high cost, but is safe.
As mentioned earlier, Edison has been promoting direct current in order to protect his own interests. In order to attack alternating current, he used all kinds of methods.
At that time, Edison bribed some state government officials in the United States to change the local death penalty from hanging to alternating current electrocution.
He also hired elementary school students to catch cats and dogs for alternating current experiments, and electrocuted the cats and dogs.
He even electrocuted an elephant with alternating current in public to discredit alternating current in people's minds.
In 1893, at the Chicago World's Fair, this "current war" finally came to an end.
At that time, Edison's newly formed General Electric Company was engaged in a fierce battle with Westinghouse over the lighting rights contract for the World Expo. GE ruthlessly lowered its quotation from the initial US$18.49 per lamp to US$5.95, resulting in the overall quotation falling from US$1.7 million to less than US$450,000. Westinghouse was even more ruthless, directly offering an offer of less than $400,000. Ultimately, Westinghouse won the contract.
When Westinghouse used the alternating current system to light up the lights for the World Expo, the whole city was excited.
This is a historic victory for alternating current. Since then, alternating current has gradually begun to replace direct current and become the first choice for urban power supply systems.
In 1895, Tesla designed the world's first hydroelectric power plant and the world's first AC power station at Niagara Falls on the border of the United States and Canada. Its power is transmitted to Buffalo, 35 kilometers away, becoming the city's main source of electricity.
Later, with the completion of a series of large and small power stations, the entire power station group supplied a quarter of the total demand of New York in the United States and Ontario, Canada.
To this day, these hydropower stations are still operating normally, becoming a miracle in the century-old scientific history of mankind.
In May 1895, at the National Electrical Exposition held in Philadelphia, Edison finally tactfully acknowledged Tesla’s contribution:
“At this exposition, the most impressive It was astonishing that [Tesla] demonstrated the ability to deliver electricity to Niagara Falls, which in my opinion solved one of the important problems associated with electrical development."
However, that same year, An unfortunate thing happened to Tesla.
A bizarre fire broke out in his laboratory in New York, and the entire laboratory was burned to the ground. Half his life's research results, a large amount of research equipment and experimental materials were all gone.
The brutal blow did not defeat Tesla, and he quickly established a new laboratory.
In 1899, Tesla moved to Springs, Colorado, and established the Tesla Experimental Station to conduct research on high-voltage electricity.
In the laboratory, Tesla successfully created artificial lightning. He also observed lightning and studied atmospheric electricity through his own receiver.
Later, his research direction gradually turned to energy and power transmission through wireless means. To put it bluntly, it is wireless charging.
In 1899, Tesla used radio waves from a distant oscillator to ignite a vacuum bulb
In January 1900, Tesla left Springs and returned to New York. Launched his craziest "global wireless power project".
He asked the world's richest man J.P. Morgan (J.Pierpont Morgan) for an investment of US$150,000, and borrowed another US$1 million himself to start construction of a large-scale Tesla in Long Island, USA. Coil (wireless energy transmitting tower). He hopes to use this coil to provide wireless communication and wireless power transmission services to both sides of the Atlantic.
Tesla’s bold plan was named the “Wardendyffe Project”. The transmitting tower he built is also known as Wardenclyffe Tower.
While Tesla was obsessed with the Wardenclyffe Plan, his rival Italian Guglielmo Marconi, working under Carnegie and Edison With financial support, he achieved great success with his own wireless telegraphy technology.
In 1901, Marconi achieved ultra-long-distance radio communications across the Atlantic.
After Marconi's success, Tesla's investors (including J.P. Morgan) gave up their support for Tesla and gradually withdrew their capital. (Later, an angry J.P. Morgan even used his influence to delete all references to Tesla in the textbooks.)
In desperation, Tesla gave up the project in 1906 , announced a shutdown.
When World War I broke out in 1914, Tesla’s patent revenue in Europe dropped sharply. In 1917, Tesla declared bankruptcy and Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished and sold to pay off debts.
After the age of 60, Tesla lived in extreme poverty and began to experience symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
According to records, he was extremely obsessed with the number "3".
When swimming in the public swimming pool every day, he always swims 33 laps. If he forgets, he starts from scratch.
He would often circle a building three times before entering it. When exiting the building, he only turned right and then walked the entire block before leaving "freely." When he eats, the food must be divided into three portions and 18 napkins placed beside it, otherwise he will feel uncomfortable all over.
He is afraid of germs and hates shaking hands with others. Before every meal, he polishes all the dishes. He had a strong aversion to jewelry, especially pearl earrings. It is said that he would flex his toes a hundred times a night, saying it stimulated his brain cells. ...
Due to his withdrawn personality in his later years, Tesla rarely interacted with others and always kept to himself. His best friends are the pigeons in the local park. He often goes to feed the pigeons. Even if he is unwell, he will ask others to help him.
For the last ten years of his life, Tesla lived in a hotel in New York. The room number he lives in is 3327.
During this period, his friends in Europe tried to raise funds for him, but he refused. His main living expenses come from a small pension sent from his hometown of Yugoslavia.
Tesla died in his hotel room on January 7, 1943. The cause of death was heart failure. He was 86 years old and never married.
Shortly after Tesla's death, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the previous judgment in Marconi's favor and ruled that Tesla was the inventor of radio. (Some people also believe that this is because the U.S. government does not want to pay Marconi’s high wireless patent royalties during World War II.)
In July 1956, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Tesla’s birth, People began to re-recognize Tesla and his contributions. Much of Tesla's reputation and status was restored.
In 1957, Tesla's ashes were transported back to Belgrade and placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum.
In 1960, the International Electrotechnical Commission in Munich determined the Tesla as the international scientific unit of magnetic induction intensity.
In 1975, Tesla was officially inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Tesla obtained more than 1,000 invention patents in his lifetime (some say 700), most of which were related to alternating current and radio systems.
In addition to the contributions mentioned above, Tesla also had some very distinctive inventions.
Remote-controlled boat
In 1898, Tesla conducted an experiment on a remote-controlled automated boat in the lake in New York's Central Park and achieved great success. This remote-controlled boat communicates with the controller through radio, which can be said to be the earliest wireless control technology.
X-rays
Tesla was engaged in the research of X-rays in his early days and completed some experiments. Some people believe that Tesla discovered X-rays earlier than Roentgen. However, the fire in 1895 destroyed many research records, making it impossible to prove Tesla's research results.
In 1896, Tesla took this X-ray image: a shadow of a foot in a shoe
Röntgen gave Tesla on July 20, 1901 The letter reads: "Dear sir! You surprised me with your wonderfully beautiful photos of the discharge, and I thank you very much. If only I knew how you did it! I would like to express my special respect, WC Roentgen." < /p>
Earthquake Machine
In 1893, Tesla patented a steam-powered mechanical oscillator whose vibrations could be used to generate electricity. As he calibrated the machine for his experiments, it began to shake so violently that it nearly brought down the entire building.
The violent shaking attracted police and ambulances. Instead of telling them the truth, Tesla's assistant told them it was an "earthquake."
Flying Saucer (Flying Saucer)
In 1928, Tesla applied for a patent for flight technology, which was an aircraft using brand-new engine technology. Tesla calls this new technology "space drive" and "anti-electromagnetic field propulsion system", which is very science fiction.
Tesla did not produce a prototype at that time, but designed a complete set of drawings. According to the manuscript drawings that were later released, it is completely unbelievable that it is a flying saucer.
Death Ray
Death Ray is Tesla's most famous fantasy invention and also the most controversial invention. It is also called the "Death Ray" (Tesla himself called it "Peace Ray"). ray").
Tesla believed that by accelerating mercury isotopes to 48 times the speed of sound, the resulting beam would generate enough energy to destroy entire armies at distances limited only by the curvature of the Earth.
Tesla tried to sell the idea to several governments, including the United States, in the years before his death. But the Soviet Union was the only country to experiment with this, but it did not produce the expected results.
In addition to death rays, Tesla also studied various fields such as robotics, ballistics, information science, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics in his later years.
Because of this, when Tesla died, the FBI confiscated all his design drawings and experimental works and classified them as top secrets.
Tesla has achieved countless achievements throughout his life, but it is a pity that he did not win the Nobel Prize.
In 1915, there was news that he and Edison would win the Nobel Prize together. But in fact the final prize was awarded to someone else.
Some people say that Tesla and Edison refused to win awards together because they hated each other. But there is no evidence to prove this. Tesla was a practical inventor, but his theoretical level was insufficient. This may be one of the main reasons why he did not win the Nobel Prize.
Although Tesla did not win the Nobel Prize, he has a close relationship with the Nobel Prize.
For example, Roentgen, who discussed X-rays together earlier, later became the winner of the 1901 Nobel Prize in Physics. In 1910, Tesla recommended Maria Sklodowska Curie for her achievements in radioactive elements, which earned her her second Nobel Prize (Chemistry Prize).
In 1931, on Tesla’s 75th birthday, he received letters from more than 70 groundbreaking scientists and engineers, including eight Nobel Prize winners in physics (including Einstein) . He was also on the cover of Time magazine.
In 1943, at Tesla’s funeral, three Nobel Prize winners in physics attended and delivered speeches.
All of these are enough to illustrate the great achievements of this "uncrowned king".
There is no doubt that Tesla is the most legendary inventor in human history. His many inventions promoted the progress of human society.
Although he showed a withdrawn and weird personality in his later years and often made shocking remarks, none of these can erase his contribution.
However, there is no need to deify Tesla. He was an inventor, with all kinds of fantastic ideas and the hope of realizing them.
Isn’t the process of scientific exploration the process of constant dreaming?
Finally, let us pay tribute to this genius inventor -
Thank you, the great Nikola Tesla!