Nikola Tesla

Croatian scientist, inventor, physicist, mechanical and electrical engineer.

Tesla was fluent in many languages besides his native Croatian, he also spoke English, French, German, Italian, Czech, Hungarian and Latin.

His image is on the current 100 Serbian dinar banknote.

His great admirer is actor/director/producer Eli Roth.

Honoring his work in the summer of 2003 started a Silicon Valley automobile company by the name of Tesla Motors, Inc. focused on the production of high performance, consumer-oriented electric vehicles.

Belgrade airport was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslas 150th birthday on July 10, 2006.

The Tesla crater on the far side of the moon and planetoid 2244 Tesla are named in tribute of him. Also the SI unit for measuring magnetic flux density or magnetic induction the Tesla was named after him (symbol T).

Was good friends with Mark Twain.

His father Milutin was a Serbian Orthodox priest (it is a common custom in Orthodox Christianity that priests can be married).

There is a bronze statue of him sitting with a book on his lap in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York (placed 1976). A similar statue is placed in front of E.T.F. (Electro Technical Faculty) university of Belgrade, Serbia. Also there is another one with Tesla standing in Queen Victoria Park on the Canadian side of the Niagara Falls.

Appeared on the cover of Time magazine (was chosen for man of the year) on July 20, 1931.

He discovered X-rays years before Wilhelm Roentgen, invented the radio before Guglielmo Marconi, who would receive the Nobel Prize for it, and worked on inventing machines that ran on renewable resource, such as solar power and hydroelectricity, he contributed to robotics with his invention of a remote controlled motorboat, supposedly contributed to nuclear explosives with the Manhattan Project, and he dreamed of inventing a machine that would end war, since his father instilled in him a great loathing of war, and as a result he invented a particle beam ("death ray") which may have lead to his demise when the schematics of his death ray went missing from his hotel room where he supposedly died of heart failure.

His Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), which was not a classified illness in his time but considered a symptom of insanity, made him obsess over the number three where every hotel he stayed at had to include a 3, he would always sit at the same table at his hotel restaurants, have 18 napkins brought over so he can clean his silverware, plates, and glasses due to his great fear of germs so he never shook hands with people, also before entering a building he would circle the block 3 times. He was disgusted by anyone elses hair, he hated jewelry especially pearl necklaces, and loathed perfume. He had so many phobias he couldnt engage into relationships with women and he remained celibate all his life.

Worked for Thomas Edison for a long time. The "War of the Currents" begins with these two rivals, Tesla in the end winning when his Alternating Current surpassed Edisons DC.

Screenwriter/Producer Gregory Crosby is developing a feature motion picture based on his life.

The rock band Tesla is named after him.

A museum in honor of his work, known as the Nikola Tesla Museum is located in Belgrade, Serbia. It holds more than 160,000 original documents and works of Tesla, as well as a Urn with Teslas ashes.

Inducted into the International Lineman Hall of Fame in 2007.

Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1975.

PIctured on one of two 2.95r Brazilian commemorative stamps celebrating diplomatic relations between Brazil and Croatia, issued 28 October 2014. The other stamp pictured Brazilian physicist Mario Schenberg.

Pictured on a Serbian commemorative postage stamp, issued 21 June 2016, celebrating the 125th anniversary of the patenting of Teslas resonant transformer. Price on day of issue was 70d.

Invented the Tesla coil.

Designed the AC electricity supply system.

The Tesla Crater is named after him.

The vehicle companies Nikola and Tesla are named after him.

Died in the Wyndham New Yorker Hotel.

Worked for Thomas Edison.

A statue of Nikola Tesla with a time capsule will open on January 7, 2043, the 100th anniversary of his death.

His father was a priest.

Tesla never married.

He was raised a Christian.

I am equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian fatherland.

I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart,like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain,unfolding to success. . . such emotions make a man forget food, sleep,friends, love, everything.

It is paradoxical, yet true, to say, that the more we know, the more,ignorant we become in the absolute sense, for it is only through,enlightenment that we become conscious of our limitations. Precisely,one of the most gratifying results of intellectual evolution is the,continuous opening up of new and greater prospects.

Our virtues and our failings are inseparable, like force and matter.

When they separate, man is no more.

Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one according to his,work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which,I have really worked, is mine.

It seems that I have always been ahead of my time. I had to wait,nineteen years before Niagara was harnessed by my system, fifteen years,before the basic inventions for wireless which I gave to the world in,1893 were applied universally.

The human being is a self-propelled automaton entirely under the control,of external influences. Willful and predetermined though they appear,his actions are governed not from within, but from without. He is like,a float tossed about by the waves of a turbulent sea.

In a time not distant, it will be possible to flash any image formed in,thought on a screen and render it visible at any place desired. The,perfection of this means of reading thought will create a revolution,for the better in all our social relations.

Electrical science has revealed to us the true nature of light, has,provided us with innumerable appliances and instruments of precision,and has thereby vastly added to the exactness of our knowledge.

There is no doubt that some plant food, such as oatmeal, is more,economical than meat, and superior to it in regard to both mechanical,and mental performance. Such food, moreover, taxes our digestive organs,decidedly less, and, in making us more contented and sociable, produces,an amount of good difficult to estimate.

In the twenty-first century, the robot will take the place which slave,labor occupied in ancient civilization.

Though we may never be able to comprehend human life, we know certainly,that it is a movement, of whatever nature it be. The existence of,movement unavoidably implies a body which is being moved and a force,which is moving it. Hence, wherever there is life, there is a mass,moved by a force. All mass possesses inertia; all force tends to,persist.

There is no conflict between the ideal of religion and the ideal of,science, but science is opposed to theological dogmas because science,is founded on fact. To me, the universe is simply a great machine which,never came into being and never will end. The human being is no,exception to the natural order. Man, like the universe, is a machine.

The scientific man does not aim at an immediate result. He does not,expect that his advanced ideas will be readily taken up. His work is,like that of the planter - for the future. His duty is to lay the,foundation for those who are to come, and point the way.

With ideas it is like with dizzy heights you climb: At first they cause,you discomfort and you are anxious to get down, distrustful of your own,powers; but soon the remoteness of the turmoil of life and the,inspiring influence of the altitude calm your blood; your step gets,firm and sure and you begin to look - for dizzier heights.

I do not think you can name many great inventions that have been made by,married men.

The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be,sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane.

Every living being is an engine geared to the wheelwork of the universe.

Though seemingly affected only by its immediate surrounding, the sphere,of external influence extends to infinite distance.

If we want to reduce poverty and misery, if we want to give to every,deserving individual what is needed for a safe existence of an,intelligent being, we want to provide more machinery, more power. Power,is our mainstay, the primary source of our many-sided energies.

I myself eschew all stimulants. I also practically abstain from meat.

By an irony of fate, my first employment was as a draughtsman. I hated,drawing; it was for me the very worst of annoyances. Fortunately, it,was not long before I secured the position I sought, that of chief,electrician to the telephone company.

The spread of civilization may be likened to a fire; first, a feeble,spark, next a flickering flame, then a mighty blaze, ever increasing in,speed and power.

Electrical science has disclosed to us the more intimate relation,existing between widely different forces and phenomena and has thus led,us to a more complete comprehension of Nature and its many,manifestations to our senses.

Archimedes was my ideal. I admired the works of artists, but to my mind,they were only shadows and semblances. The inventor, I thought, gives,to the world creations which are palpable, which live and work.

The history of science shows that theories are perishable. With every,new truth that is revealed we get a better understanding of Nature and,our conceptions and views are modified.

From my childhood I had been intended for the clergy. This prospect hung,like a dark cloud on my mind.

The trend of opinion among eugenists is that we must make marriage more,difficult. Certainly no one who is not a desirable parent should be,permitted to produce progeny.

The harness of waterfalls is the most economical method known for,drawing energy from the sun.

We wind a simple ring of iron with coils; we establish the connections,to the generator, and with wonder and delight we note the effects of,strange forces which we bring into play, which allow us to transform,to transmit and direct energy at will.

I have already demonstrated, by crucial tests, the practicability of,signaling by my system from one to any other point of the globe, no,matter how remote, and I shall soon convert the disbelievers.

As in nature, all is ebb and tide, all is wave motion, so it seems that,in all branches of industry, alternating currents - electric wave,motion - will have the sway.

When a coil is operated with currents of very high frequency, beautiful,brush effects may be produced, even if the coil be of comparatively,small dimensions. The experimenter may vary them in many ways, and, if,it were nothing else, they afford a pleasing sight.

Of the various branches of electrical investigation, perhaps the most,interesting and immediately the most promising is that dealing with,alternating currents.

The universal utilization of water power and its long-distance,transmission will supply every household with cheap power and will,dispense with the necessity of burning fuel. The struggle for existence,being lessened, there should be development along ideal rather than,material lines.

The feeling is constantly growing on me that I had been the first to,hear the greeting of one planet to another.

All knowledge or form conception is evoked through the medium of the,eye, either in response to disturbances directly received on the retina,or to their fainter secondary effects and reverberations. Other sense,organs can only call forth feelings which have no reality of existence,and of which no conception can be formed.

We have soon to have everywhere smoke annihilators, dust absorbers,ozonizers, sterilizers of water, air, food and clothing, and accident,preventers on streets, elevated roads and in subways. It will become,next to impossible to contract disease germs or get hurt in the city,and country folk will got to town to rest and get well.

The earth is bountiful, and where her bounty fails, nitrogen drawn from,the air will refertilize her womb. I developed a process for this,purpose in 1900. It was perfected fourteen years later under the stress,of war by German chemists.

There is no memory or retentive faculty based on lasting impression.

What we designate as memory is but increased responsiveness to repeated,stimuli.

The Secretary of Hygiene or Physical Culture will be far more important,in the cabinet of the President of the United States who holds office,in the year 2035 than the Secretary of War.

We crave for new sensations but soon become indifferent to them. The wonders of yesterday are today common occurrences,Life is and will ever remain an equation incapable of solution, but it contains certain known factors.

The day science begins to study non-physical phenomena, it will make more progress in one decade than in all the previous centuries of its existence.

Of all things, I liked books best.

When I was a boy of seven or eight I read a novel untitled "Abafi" — The Son of Aba — a Servian translation from the Hungarian of Josika, a writer of renown. The lessons it teaches are much like those of "Ben Hur," and in this respect it might be viewed as anticipatory of the work of Wallace. The possibilities of will-power and self-control appealed tremendously to my vivid imagination, and I began to discipline myself. Had I a sweet cake or a juicy apple which I was dying to eat I would give it to another boy and go through the tortures of Tantalus, pained but satisfied. Had I some difficult task before me which was exhausting I would attack it again and again until it was done. So I practiced day by day from morning till night. At first it called for a vigorous mental effort directed against disposition and desire, but as years went by the conflict lessened and finally my will and wish became identical.

War can not be avoided until the physical cause for its recurrence is removed and this, in the last analysis, is the vast extent of the planet on which we live.

I do not think you can name many great inventions that have been made by married men.

I am part of a light, and it is the music. The Light fills my six senses: I see it, hear, feel, smell, touch and think. Thinking of it means my sixth sense. Particles of Light are written note. O bolt of lightning can be an entire sonata. A thousand balls of lightening is a concert. . For this concert I have created a Ball Lightning, which can be heard on the icy peaks of the Himalayas.

Edison was by far the most successful and, probably, the last exponent of the purely empirical method of investigation. Everything he achieved was the result of persistent trials and experiments often performed at random but always attesting extraordinary vigor and resource. Starting from a few known elements, he would make their combinations and permutations, tabulate them and run through the whole list, completing test after test with incredible rapidity until he obtained a clue. His mind was dominated by one idea, to leave no stone unturned, to exhaust every possibility.

When a child is born its sense-organs are brought in contact with the outer world. The waves of sound, heat and light beat upon its feeble body, its sensitive nerve-fibres quiver, the muscles contract and relax in obedience: a gasp, a breath, and in this act a marvelous little engine, of inconceivable delicacy and complexity of construction, unlike any on earth, is hitched to the wheel-work of the Universe.

The progressive development of man is vitally dependent on invention. It is the most important product of his creative brain.

The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine.

You may live to see man-made horrors beyond your comprehension.

The scientific man does not aim at an immediate result. He does not expect that his advanced ideas will be readily taken up. His work is like that of the planter—for the future. His duty is to lay the foundation for those who are to come, and point the way.

The idea of atomic energy is illusionary but it has taken so powerful a hold on the minds, that although I have preached against it for twenty-five years, there are still some who believe it to be realizable.

Now the soft-voiced gentle woman of my reverent worship has all but vanished, in her place has come the woman who thinks that her chief success in life lies in making herself as much as possible like man—in dress, voice and actions, in sports and achievements of every kind.

Now the soft-voiced gentle woman of my reverent worship has all but vanished.

The recurrence of a phenomenon like [Thomas] Edison is not very likely. The profound change of conditions and the ever increasing necessity of theoretical training would seem to make it impossible. He will occupy a unique and exalted position in the history of his native land, which might well be proud of his great genius and undying achievements in the interest of humanity.

If he [Thomas Edison] had a needle to find in a haystack, he would not stop to reason where it was most likely to be, but would proceed at once with the feverish diligence of a bee, to examine straw after straw until he found the object of his search. … Just a little theory and calculation would have saved him ninety percent of his labor.

I came from Paris in the Spring of 1884, and was brought in intimate contact with him [Thomas Edison]. We experimented day and night, holidays not excepted. His existence was made up of alternate periods of work and sleep in the laboratory. He had no hobby, cared for no sport or amusement of any kind and lived in utter disregard of the most elementary rules of hygiene. There can be no doubt that, if he had not married later a woman of exceptional intelligence, who made it the one object of her life to preserve him, he would have died many years ago from consequences of sheer neglect. So great and uncontrollable was his passion for work.

If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.

The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane.

One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane.

We are all one. Only egos, beliefs, and fears separate us.

The earth is bountiful, and where her bounty fails, nitrogen drawn from the air will refertilize her womb. I developed a process for this purpose in 1900. It was perfected fourteen years later under the stress of war by German chemists.

I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success. . . such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything.

The feeling is constantly growing on me that I had been the first to hear the greeting of one planet to another.

Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I have really worked, is mine.

Archimedes was my ideal. I admired the works of artists, but to my mind, they were only shadows and semblances. The inventor, I thought, gives to the world creations which are palpable, which live and work.

The scientific man does not aim at an immediate result. He does not expect that his advanced ideas will be readily taken up. His work is like that of the planter - for the future. His duty is to lay the foundation for those who are to come, and point the way.

Electrical science has revealed to us the true nature of light, has provided us with innumerable appliances and instruments of precision, and has thereby vastly added to the exactness of our knowledge.

The history of science shows that theories are perishable. With every new truth that is revealed we get a better understanding of Nature and our conceptions and views are modified.

As in nature, all is ebb and tide, all is wave motion, so it seems that in all branches of industry, alternating currents - electric wave motion - will have the sway.

Electrical science has disclosed to us the more intimate relation existing between widely different forces and phenomena and has thus led us to a more complete comprehension of Nature and its many manifestations to our senses.

There is no conflict between the ideal of religion and the ideal of science, but science is opposed to theological dogmas because science is founded on fact. To me, the universe is simply a great machine which never came into being and never will end. The human being is no exception to the natural order. Man, like the universe, is a machine.

There is no doubt that some plant food, such as oatmeal, is more economical than meat, and superior to it in regard to both mechanical and mental performance. Such food, moreover, taxes our digestive organs decidedly less, and, in making us more contented and sociable, produces an amount of good difficult to estimate.

We have soon to have everywhere smoke annihilators, dust absorbers, ozonizers, sterilizers of water, air, food and clothing, and accident preventers on streets, elevated roads and in subways. It will become next to impossible to contract disease germs or get hurt in the city, and country folk will got to town to rest and get well.

In a time not distant, it will be possible to flash any image formed in thought on a screen and render it visible at any place desired. The perfection of this means of reading thought will create a revolution for the better in all our social relations.

The spread of civilisation may be likened to a fire; first, a feeble spark, next a flickering flame, then a mighty blaze, ever increasing in speed and power.

If we want to reduce poverty and misery, if we want to give to every deserving individual what is needed for a safe existence of an intelligent being, we want to provide more machinery, more power. Power is our mainstay, the primary source of our many-sided energies.

All knowledge or form conception is evoked through the medium of the eye, either in response to disturbances directly received on the retina or to their fainter secondary effects and reverberations. Other sense organs can only call forth feelings which have no reality of existence and of which no conception can be formed.

The trend of opinion among eugenists is that we must make marriage more difficult. Certainly no one who is not a desirable parent should be permitted to produce progeny. .