Inventor Nikola Tesla was born on this day in history, July 10, 1856, in what is now Croatia.
Tesla's father was a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, notes the Encyclopedia Britannica.
His mother, although illiterate, was “very intelligent.”
Young Tesla was very interested in science from a very young age. Around the age of six, he began conducting experiments, according to the website of the Tesla Science Center in Wardenclyffe, New York.
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“His keen interest in nature and the workings of things, combined with his intelligence and curiosity, enabled him to invent during his childhood an engine powered by June beetles, an air-piston gun and a device for catching frogs,” the website states.
“In elementary school he built water turbines and dreamed of using Niagara Falls to generate power, a dream that became a reality in 1896,” the site added.
Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla was born on July 10, 1856. (Fake Images)
As a young man, Tesla worked at the Budapest Telephone Exchange and at a job installing lights in Paris.
In both works, Tesla was able to invent improvements to existing technology.
In Budapest, Tesla “improved the equipment and developed an amplifier,” while in Paris, “Tesla made improvements to Edison's dynamos and created an automatic regulator,” according to the Tesla Science Center.
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Tesla would move to the United States in 1884, at the age of 28.
He arrived in New York City “with four cents in his pocket,” the Tesla Universe website said.
That same year, Tesla met Thomas Edison.
Edison “basically hired Tesla on the spot” and put him to work on the electrical system of the ocean liner “Oregon,” the first ship with electric lighting.
“The set of dynamos that powered the ship was badly damaged and Edison was surprised to learn that Tesla had repaired them,” Tesla Universe said.
Nikola Tesla with his “magnifying transmitter.” Tesla would receive nearly 300 patents during his lifetime. (Fake Images)
The relationship between Tesla and Edison would deteriorate the following year, Tesla Universe said, reportedly after Edison reneged on an offer to pay Tesla $50,000 for improving Edison's direct current generator.
Despite Tesla's work to improve the generator, Edison refused to pay him, reportedly saying, “You don't understand our American humor.”
Tesla invented the “Tesla coil” in 1891, the same year he became an American citizen.
Among Tesla's notable achievements are patents for the dynamo, the transformer, and the alternating-current motor, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.
These patents were sold to George Westinghouse in May 1888.
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“The transaction precipitated a titanic power struggle between Edison's direct-current systems and the Tesla-Westinghouse alternating-current approach, which ultimately triumphed,” states the Encyclopedia Britannica.
In 1891, the same year he became an American citizen, Tesla invented the “Tesla coil,” “an air-core transformer with primary and secondary coils tuned to resonate,” according to California State University, Long Beach.
“Tesla conceived it as a means of transmitting electrical energy without wires,” the same source said.
A demonstration of a Tesla coil. Nikola Tesla, born July 10, 1856, invented the Tesla coil, “an air-cored transformer with primary and secondary coils tuned to resonate,” according to Cal State Long Beach. “Tesla conceived of it as a means of transmitting electrical energy without wires.” (Fake Images)
Over the course of his life, Tesla would acquire nearly 300 patents, the Tesla Science Center said.
I was particularly interested in the concept of a wireless power transmission system.
In his later years, he is said to have become quite eccentric and had a fixation with the pigeons that lived near his hotel.
Despite his lasting impact on electricity as we know it, Tesla himself died in debt and alone on January 7, 1943, in the hotel room where he was living, Tesla Universe told The Telegraph.
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In the modern era, the name Tesla is most commonly associated with a brand of electric cars.
Tesla, Inc. was founded as Tesla Motors in 2003 by entrepreneurs Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, notes Encyclopedia Britannica.
Elon Musk joined the company the following year and became its largest shareholder.
The company was named after Nikola Tesla, inventor of the alternating current motor that powers the company's automobiles.
A Tesla car is shown plugged in and charging at a Supercharger fast battery charging station. (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
Tesla Motors produced its first car, the Roadster, in 2008, and in October 2008, Musk was named CEO.
In 2010, the company went public.
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Production of the Roadster ceased in 2012, Encyclopedia Britannica said, and the company changed its name to Tesla, Inc. in 2017.
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Today, the company sells several car models (Model S, Model 3, Model Y and Model X), as well as solar panels and the Powerwall.
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Powerwall is a battery system that can power a home in the event of a power outage, its website says.
