Top Ten Interesting Facts About Nikola Tesla
Probably the best inventor and futurist. But beyond his brilliant work, some aspects of his life remain unspoken in the pages of history. I'm sure you want to know about Tesla - The inventor of the electrical era.The Top Ten
1 In order to keep electricity inexpensive to the public, Tesla sold George Westinghouse his own royalties, which were worth $12 million, for just $216,000. If Tesla had kept his royalties, he may have been the first billionaire
One of the greatest minds ever!
2 He made earth into an electric tuning fork by getting a steam-driven oscillator to vibrate at the same frequency as the ground, which resulted in an earthquake .
And accurately determined the resonant frequencies of the earth 60 years before science could confirm his results
3 In his latter years, Tesla asserted that he had indeed discovered a limitless power supply from a source that no one else had even suspected, but he never revealed the source
4 On January 7, 1943: Tesla died penniless and alone in room #3327 of the Hotel New Yorker. Soon after his death, the United States Government (with the help of the FBI) seized all of his research materials and writings, most of which never again reappeared
5 He was offered $50,000 to improve some of Edison's ideas, but when he delivered, Edison claimed that he had only been "joking," and refused to pay him.
I've seen a poem which Tesla wrote regarding this as well.
6 Nikola was born the son of an Orthodox Priest, Tesla claimed to sleep just 2 to 3 hours a day , Whereas Sir Isaac Newton needed 3-4 hours of sleep daily
7 Tesla discovered X-ray radiation 3 years before Wilhelm Roentgen was credited for the same discovery
8 Tesla achieved the "impossible" by demonstrating a working brushless polyphase AC induction motor to a group of wealthy investors – none of whom would invest a penny
9 He also talked about experiments that suggested particles with fractional charges of an electron. In 1977 they were "discovered" as quarks
10 At the beginning of World War I, Tesla proposed the use of energy waves to detect German submarines (known today as RADAR). Thomas Edison rejected his idea as ludicrous
The Contenders
11 He could visualise devices entirely in his head and then build them without even writing them down
12 In 1899, he sent waves of energy through the Earth, providing the theory for earthquake seismic stations. Created the largest man-made lightning bolt ever recorded (130 feet)
It was heard 22 miles away, created a blue glow around the meadow outside his Colorado lab.
13 Tesla and the great storyteller, Mark Twain, were very close friends
14 As a boy, Tesla saw a likeness of Niagra Falls, and dreamed of harnessing the power of the water to create electricity. In 1893, he succeeded in doing just that
15 Tesla adorned the cover of Time Magazine in 1931, and was praised by Albert Einstein as "an eminent pioneer in the realm of high frequency currents..."
16 J Pierpont Morgan invested $150,000 in Tesla's idea to build a gigantic radio transmitter – but then refused to invest any further after it was revealed that Tesla was instead trying to transmit electrical power wirelessly
17 He Spoke Eight Languages - Serbian, English, Czech, German, French, Hungarian, Italian and Latin
18 He could memorize entire books and recite them at will
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