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THE BIRTH
Nikola Tesla was born in Smilian ,in the Lika region of present-day Croatia, which belonged then to the Serbian community of the Austrian Empire.His father was a priest and he had three sisters and one ,elder brother. -
THE DEATH OF HIS BROTHER
His brilliant 12-year-old brother, Dane, died from an accident when Nikola was five years old.Nikola lived in the shadow of his brother and several years later, he still suffered from nightmares and illusions associated with his brother's death. -
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HIS EARLY STUDIES
In 1863 he moved with his parents to Gospic, where Nikola received his basic education and learned the German language. In 1870 he continued his education until 1873 ,at the Royal High School ,in the town of Rakovac.In 1873, he graduated with a grade of "very good" and returned to his hometown. -
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STUDIES AT THE HIGHER POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL
He secured a scholarship at the Graz higher Polytechnic school.Tesla took courses in geometry, theoretical and experimental physics, integral calculus, analytical chemistry, botany, optics, French and English.He worked many hours a day, with excellent performance.His almost monastic lifestyle was ridiculed by his classmates.Tesla reacting, turned to prodigal life and gambling.During his third year of study, he stopped attending classes, thus he never graduated from the Graz school. -
DEATH OF HIS FATHER
After that he settled in Marburg, present-day Slovenia, where he worked for a short time as an engineer.There he was visited by his father, who tried unsuccessfully to persuade him to return to his family and possibly continue his studies in Prague. A few weeks later, Tesla was arrested in Maribor and taken back to Gospic under police escort. His father,Milutin Tesla died in April 1879, disappointed by the turn of events. -
THE BEGINNING OF HIS CAREER
Two years later he settled in Budapest.Tesla was eventually hired as a technical designer ,at the Central Telegraph Office in Hungary, gaining valuable practical experience. When the Budapest call center was installed a few months later, Tesla was hired. There he managed to make several improvements to the center's equipment and perfected a telephone amplifier. -
THE ACQUAINTANCE WITH ENDISON
In 1883 he was hired by the Society Electric of Edison on the outskirts of Paris.It was the first time, that Tesla came in direct contact with Edison's work and gained deeper knowledge and experience around generators and engines.He soon stood out for his abilities,having a rich theoretical, scientific background in contrast to most of Edison's employees.He developed an automatic regulator for Edison's dynamos.After a year he was offered a job at the Edison Company in New York. -
THE AΡRIVAL IN USA
Tesla arrived in New York in June 1884 at the age of 28.He immediately met Edison and started working in the engineering shop.The relationship between the two men was never very warm.They had disagreements on the subject of their work ,as Edison advocated the use of direct current,while Tesla advocated the use of alternating current.Disappointed he resigned after six months. -
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A NEW WORKSHOP
Tesla, after some failed business ventures, finds a new financier for his experiments in 1887.He set up his workshop, a few blocks above Edison's workshop.In October 1887 his patent for the Tesla Multi phase System,was fortified by the American Patent Office.Edison and his financier defamed Tesla. -
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A PRODUCTIVE PERIOD
Between 1890-1891 Tesla gave dozens of lectures on alternating current .In 1891 Tesla invented the coil that bears his name.In 1892 Tesla gave many lectures in London and then in Paris.Later he visited his dying mother and then he was awarded by the king and the Serbian Royal Academy. From 1892 to 1903 Tesla struggled to prove that radio wave transmission and reception was his own invention and he was finally vindicated in 1943, and was recognized as the inventor of radio in 1955. -
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THE CULULATION OF GLORY
On the night of May 1, 1893, at the Chicago International Fair, Grover Cleveland, President of the USA, illuminated the city with alternating current lamps.In 1895, with the help of Tesla, Redgen could boast of inventing X-rays, and so Tesla's fame skyrocketed.At that time, Tesla's reputation in the United States was greater ,than any other inventor or scientist in the popular consciousness. -
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THE FALL
Because of his eccentricity and his bizarre claims about the potential of scientific and technological development to help launch human civilization to another scale, Tesla was eventually exiled as a mad scientist.From 1898 to 1903, Tesla changed several financiers and eventually withdrew to so-called "free energy" experiments. Until 1910 Tesla had been forgotten or sidelined by the new inventions and theories of the Wright brothers, Marie and Pierre Curie and Einstein. -
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THE UPS AND DOWNS YEARS
From 1915 to 1917 he won many awards, but missed the Nobel Prize in Physics by Edison.In 1916 a new controversy began among Tesla's wave theory and the Einstein's atomic theory.In 1924 Tesla claimed,he invented the infamous "Death Ray",capable of destroying large areas at a distance of 200 miles.He also claimed, that he was responsible for the explosion of Tunguska.Journalists and scientists had ridiculed him,although scholars place this invention among unexplained phenomena. -
THE END
From 1936 until his death, the FBI monitored his conversations and movements, believing that he had developed friendly relations with the Stalinist Soviet Union.In 1937 a car hit Tesla,seriously shaking his health.He died on January 7,1943 from a coronary thrombosis at the New York Hotel. He was found dead two days later. His assets, including notes about his investigations, were collected by the FBI.Until today many conspiracy theories have been developed about his death! -
POSTHUMOUS FAME
Tesla is best known for his contributions to the electricity and magnetism .He formed the basis for the current AC system.His inventions contributed to the manifestation of the Second Industrial Revolution. The unit of magnetic field strength ,"Tesla", was named in his honor.In 1943 the USA Supreme Court recognized him as the inventor of wireless communication.Now days scientists called him "the man who invented the Twentieth Century" and "patron saint of modern electricity."