Nikola Tesla was born in Smiljan, Croatia on July 9, 1856. He led an extraordinary life filled with scientific discoveries, inventions and a love of poetry. Nikola's father was an Orthodox priest and his mother was unschooled. Despite his modest background, he strived for perfection and pursued a degree at the Technical University at Graz, Austria and then the University of Prague.
The time he spent at the University at Graz exposed him to many new ideas and theories. The Gramme dynamo fueled his desire for inventions when he saw how this generator, when reversed, became a motor. This first glimpse at the alternating current would define his career in the future. In Budapest he formulated the plans for the induction motor, which would utilize the alternating current.
In 1882 Tesla went to work for the Continental Edison Company. In his spare time he worked on his induction motor, which he completed in 1883. In 1884 he decided to try his fortune in America. His first employer was Thomas Edison but the two clashed with their ideas and they soon parted their company. Nikola Tesla continued to work on his inventions and soon had several U.S. patents. In 1885 the Westinghouse Electric Company purchased the patent rights to Tesla's polyphase system of the alternating-current dynamos, transformers, and motors. This put Westinghouse in competition with Edison's direct current system. Westinghouse eventually won out in this battle and that is the system we use today.
With the success of his alternating current design, Nikola Tesla was able to open his own laboratory and be free to work on any of his own inventions. In 1891 he invented the Tesla Coil, which is still used to help power radios, television sets and other electrical equipment. This invention in turn helped him win the contract to install the first power machinery at Niagara Falls. The result of this effort gave power to Buffalo, NY in 1896.
In 1898 Nikola Tesla invented the teleautomatic boat guided by remote control and exhibited it at Madison Square Garden. In 1900 he discovered the terrestrial stationary waves, which proved that the Earth acted as a conductor. At this time he was able to create a manmade lightning and he became known as the Father of Lightning.
Tesla wasn't always successful in everything he attempted. One of his greatest defeats was the withdrawal of funds by J.P. Morgan on a project, which would have provided worldwide communications including sending weather reports, stock reports, pictures and messages. He continued to work on other projects including the use of power turbines.
Nikola Tesla was awarded the Edison Medal in 1917, the highest Medal of Honor from the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. Tesla continued to work on inventions and theories, some of which stirred up critics. One of the most famous futuristic inventions Tesla claimed to have invented was the death ray. Reportedly this ray could destroy 10,000 airplanes at a distance of 250 miles. Newspapers also enjoyed regaling the public with stories of how he had discovered a way to communicate with beings from other planets.
The golden age of invention would soon come to an end but not before spawning some of the most influential thinkers of their time. Famous individuals to emerge in this time period included J.M. Barrie who penned Peter Pan, Mark Twain, Maurice Ravel who wrote the music for Bolero, Sheherazade and Don Quixote a Dulcinee, and Francis Marion Crawford.
Nikola Tesla died in 1843. Sava Kosanovich, Tesla's nephew, inherited his papers, awards and notebooks. Sava donated them to the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade where they are still studied by engineers from all over the world.