Nikola Tesla: Origins, Education, Life in the USA, Inventions (Essay Sample)

Nicola Tesla
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Nicola Tesla
Nikola Tesla was a Serbian American futurist, electrical engineer, inventor, and mechanical engineer. He is celebrated for his role in the design of the contemporary alternating current electricity supply system. He was born in Croatia in the year 1856 to a mother who managed the family’s ranch and his father was a priest. In the year 1863, Daniel, his brother, was involved in a fatal riding accident – Nikola Tesla was just seven years old this time. The shock of his brother’s death disturbed him, and he reported to be seeing visions – these were actually the initial signs of Tesla’s lifelong mental illnesses (Peat 11).
Nicola Tesla studied philosophy at the University of Prague, and studied physics and mathematics at the University of Graz. While on a walk in the year 1882, Tesla came up with the concept for a brushless Alternating Current (AC) monitor and made the initial sketches of its rotating electromagnets in sands of the path. Later in 1882, Nicola Tesla immigrated to Paris, France from where he worked with the Continental Edison Company repairing Direct Current (DC) power plants. In the year 1884, Nicola Tesla moved to America (Carlson 23).
Nicola Tesla invented and discovered many things as regards electricity. Rotating Magnetic Field (1882): his initial breakthrough came when his university professor in Croatia told him that it was not possible to create a motor that was powered by AC rather than DC. He was certain that this was not true, and after 2 years of conducting experiments in his mind, he found a solution. The solution was a rotating magnetic field which would allow AC to power an engine without first being changed to DC (Carlson 25). Alternating Current Motor (1883): he conducted in-depth plans for his Alternating Current in his head – his unique talent – until he was able to build a physical model in 1883. The AC created magnetic poles which reversed themselves without any mechanical help, as direct current motor actually required, thereby causing an armature – the part of any electromagnetic device that revolves – to spin around the motor. This was Tesla’s rotating magnetic field implemented as a motor. He also used it in alternating current transformers and generators (Hall-Geisler 43).
Tesla coil (1890): the coil makes use of polyphase ACs – which he also discovered – in creating a transformer that is able to produce extremely high voltages. This produced striking crackling sparks as well as sheets of electric flame which amazed the layman and the electrically savvy persons similarly (Hall-Geisler 44). At present, they are largely utilized for entertainment. Radio (1897): in the year 1897, Nicola Tesla sent a wireless transmission to a boat 40 km away on the Hudson River from his laboratory at Houston Street in the city of New York. He actually invented everything associated with radio today, including tuners and antennas (Carlson 26). However, Guglielmo Marconi, an inventor, was in fact accredited for this. Nicola Tesla built on these inventions and discoveries in creating the first neon and fluorescent light, wireless remote control boat, alternating current that harnessed the Niagara Fall’s hydroelectric power, and wireless bulbs which were lit using energy from the earth (Peat 13). Nicola Tesla also contributed to the creation of robotics. By the time of Tesla’s death, his fame and money were decreasing. Nonetheless, his discoveries and inventions have enabled much of today’s technology.
In the year 1884, Nicola Tesla arrived in New York and Thomas Edison hired him at his headquarters in Manhattan. Tesla worked at this place for a period of 1 year, and impressed Thomas Edison with his ingenuity and diligence. In Tesla’s interactions with Thomas Edison, Edison at one point informed him that he would pay a sum of $50,000 if he improved the design for his DC dynamos. After several months of carrying out tests, Nicola Tesla presented a solution to Thomas Edison and demanded for the $...