ThatRandomCousin

He was born in 1856 in a village called Smiljan, which is now in Croatia but back then was part of the Austrian Empire. Fun fact: he was born during a lightning storm, and apparently the midwife said he’d be a “child of light.” His dad was a Serbian Orthodox priest and wanted Tesla to become one too, but Tesla was obsessed with science and engineering from a very young age. His mom was super smart and invented household tools despite never getting formal education, and Tesla later said she’s probably why he became an inventor. As a kid he was REALLY smart. He had photographic memory, could do calculus in his head, spoke multiple languages, read constantly, and had lots of imagination. But also he had phobias and compulsions. He hated pearls, couldn’t stand touching hair, counted steps while walking, and was germaphobic. He studied engineering in places like Graz and later Prague but never properly graduated or gained a degree. Then he worked in Europe fixing electrical systems before moving to the United States in 1884. Tesla worked for Edison for a bit, but they did NOT get along. Edison pushed direct current (DC), Tesla believed alternating current (AC) was better. Tesla was right, seeing as AC could travel long distances way easier and has become the standard system everywhere on Earth. The whole fight became known as the “War of Currents.” Edison tried to ruin AC’s reputation by electrocuting animals in public demonstrations. Meanwhile ,Tesla teamed up with George Westinghouse and together they won. Tesla’s AC system powered huge projects like Niagara Falls and modern electrical grids. Tesla invented or helped develop AC induction motor, the Tesla coil, radio technology, wireless power ideas, remote controls, early X-ray experiments, neon/fluorescent lighting, concepts related to radar, and turbine designs The THING TAHTS SO FRICKIN COOL is he imagined stuff WAY before the technology existed. He talked about wireless global communication devices that sound exactly like smartphones and the internet DECADES before either existed. His life was also sosososo sad…….. He was horrible with money and business. Other people got rich off his ideas while he kept chasing bigger and crazier projects. He almost never cared about profit, and sacrificed a lot for other people. One of his biggest dreams was free wireless electricity for the whole world. He built a giant tower called Wardenclyffe on Long Island to try it, funded partly by banker J. P. Morgan. But the project failed because of money issues. Tesla also never married. He said relationships would distract him from science. He was very elegant and formal though. Apparently women loved him….. He dressed well and was friends with famous people including Mark Twain. But Tesla himself became more isolated over time. Later in life he got more eccentric. He claimed he was communicating with aliens at one point, talked about death rays, and fed pigeons constantly in New York City parks. He especially loved one white dove that visited him in his hotel room. Sadly, Tesla died alone in a hotel room in New York in 1943 at age 86. After his death, government officials seized many of his papers because people thought some of his inventions might have military value. For a while after his death, people credited many of his achievements to Edison. Also yes, the company Tesla, Inc. is named after him, obviously.

I just wrote chapter 9 and it made me cry....hopefully it will make you cry too!!

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