Happy Birthday Nikola Tesla, the greatest inventor in history
Over 100 years ago, a Serbian-American man by the name of Nikola Tesla changed the world as we knew it, forever. He developed 'alternating current,' a revolutionary electrical system that went on to power every candle-lit home on the planet. Today, on Tesla's birth anniversary, let's take a look at other amazing innovations that made him the greatest inventor in history.
With a mission to power cities wirelessly, Tesla developed the 'Tesla Coil' in 1891. The system used two coils - each with its own capacitor - to store and produce high-voltage, low-current, high-frequency electricity. Tesla coil's huge amount of energy allowed the inventor to light bulbs without using wires and gave engineers a better way to understand the nature of electricity.
Today, a number of technologies (like drones) work through remote control, but the fact is, it all started with Tesla. Back in 1898, he controlled a battery-operated boat, complete with its propellers and lights, using radio waves in the first-ever demonstration of remote control or teleautomation. The work eventually led to the development of TV remotes, garage door openers, and modern-day remote-controlled systems.
Officially, Italian engineer Guglielmo Marconi is credited with the development of radio. But, the system used by him to demonstrate the working of radio and send a signal across the Atlantic was based on Tesla's work. Specifically, it used 17 of his patents, including that related to the Tesla oscillator; it was proven in 1943 that Tesla had invented the radio years before Marconi.
Leveraging rotating magnetic fields theorized by French mathematician François Arago, Tesla invented the first-ever AC induction motor. His work started all the way back in 1888 and revolutionized energy generation completely. A majority of home appliances - from electric toothbrushes to fans to water pumps - rely on this mind-boggling invention from Tesla. Also, this is why Musk named his EV start-up Tesla Motors.
And, here are some lesser-known facts about Tesla: Call it a co-incidence or divine intervention, but the legend goes that Tesla was born during a lightning storm. He claimed to have "created" an earthquake in Manhattan. He used to drink whiskey everyday, thinking it would make him live upto 150 years. Cheers to the greatest scientist this world ever saw!
Reportedly, towards the end of his life, he started losing his mind. Ironical as it sounds, he died alone on January 7, 1943 in Room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel. In his lifetime, he obtained 300 patents, but died penniless.
