Life of Nikola Tesla

Tesla is Enrolled in the First Grade of Elementary School in Smiljan

Aliter homines, aliter philosophos loqui putas oportere? Sin aliud quid voles, postea. Mihi enim satis est, ipsis non satis. Negat enim summo bono afferre incrementum diem. Quod ea non occurrentia fingunt, vincunt Aristonem., you can change me anytime click here,

Completes Elementary School and Lower Technical School in Gospic

Completed four years of elementary school in 1867 as an excellent pupil, and his name was entered in the school’s “Golden Book.”

 Contracts Cholera

Despite his father’s demand that he not return to Gospic, where a cholera epidemic was raging, on graduating he returned home and became seriously ill. He would remain in bed for a full nine months.

 Matica Srpska in Novi Sad Rejects Application for Stipendium

Matica Srpska had already rejected his first application, submitted on October 14, 1876. In his new application to the “celebrated Matica Srpska”, he asked for a stipendium to complete “engineering studies” in Vienna or Prague, but was refused a second time. Apparently he did not regard this as a slight from the oldest and most highly-regarded Serbian cultural, literary and scientific institution because, as a world-famous scientist, he became a member in 1902.

Studies Natural Philosophy At The Carhles University in Prague

 Invention of The Rotating Magnetic Field

Walking with his friend Anton Szigety in the Budapest City Park, watching the setting sun and reciting verses from Goethe’s “Faust”, he discovered the principle of creating a rotating magnetic field with alternating current.

in Strasbourg, Tesla Builds World’s First Induction Motor

Sent to Strasbourg to repair a direct current electrical system which could not be successfully commissioned. According to the diary he kept at the time, he worked on the repair from October 14, 1883, to February 24, 1884.

Founds His First Company

In January, he founded the Tesla Electric Light and Manufacturing Company in New York.

U.S. Patent Office Approces His Patents For an Induction Motor and a System for The Production, Transmission, and Distribution of Electrical Energy

The basic patents for the polyphase system, “Electro Magnetic Motor” no. 381.968, “Electrical Transmission of Power” no. 382.280, “System of Electrical Distribution” no. 381.970, and another four patents were granted to him on May 1. From 1888-1891 he secured a total of 36 patents which allowed him to completely develop what was known as the Tesla Polyphase System, and created the basis for the second industrial revolution.

Begins Experiments With High Frequency Currents

This new field of alternating current would be at the center of his research throughout the last decade of the nineteenth century.

Granted American Citizenship

First and Only Visit To Belgrade

At the invitation of a delegation from the Belgrade Municipality and the Association of Engineers who had visited him in Budapest, he travelled to Belgrade, where he spent 31 hours. He stayed at the Hotel Imperijal, and visited Kalemegdan and the National Museum, as well as giving a lecture at the university on his latest research and discoveries. King Aleksandar I Obrenovic received him with the highest honors. By decree of the royal regents, in the name of the king, Tesla was decorated with the Order of St. Sava, second rank. This was the first decoration he received for his scientific work.

Elected Corresponding Member of The Serbian Royal Academy

Although this was one of the first significant acknowledgements of his successful scientific work and invention, the Serbian Royal Academy would not unanimously elect him as a “real” member until February 16, 1937.

World’s First Hydroelectric Plant, Based on Tesla’s Patents, Begins Operations

On the night between November 15 and 16, the first large alternating current hydroelectric plant was put into operation on the Niagara River. The first kilowatts were transmitted from Niagara to the city of Buffalo, about forty kilometers away. Of the twelve patents used in construction of this plant, nine belonged to Nikola Tesla.

Demonstrates Operations of “Teleautomaton” Boat

At the first exhibition on electrical apparatus in Madison Square Gardens, he demonstrated the famous experiment in which he controlled the movement of a model boat remotely using radio waves. He submitted a patent application under the title “Method of and Apparatus for Controlling Mechanism of Moving Vehicle or Vehicles”, no. 613,809 on July 1. It was granted by the US Patent Office on November 8 that year. Aware of the great importance of this patent, he protected it in eleven countries.

Publishes Article “The Problem of Increasing Human Energy”

Tesla published this article in the magazine of his great friend Robert Underwood Johnson. It attracted extraordinary interest from the public because of its many scientific ideas on energy as an important aspect of our civilization.

Unsuccessful Attempts to Complete The World System

The great business magnate and financier of this project, John Pierpont Morgan, withdrew from further investment. Tesla wrote him many letters attempting to persuade him to continue investment in the project, but without success. He would finally leave Long Island in 1906 and turn to research and inventions in mechanical engineering.

Builds The First Working Model Of A Bladeless Turbine

In the field of mechanical engineering, Tesla discovered the original principle of the propulsion of fluids which he applied to pumps, turbines, compressors and fans. This finding, which he had conceived in 1890 and formulated at the beginning of 1902, was first presented to scientific experts on June 1, 1906, and applied in practice during 1907.

Founded Tesla Propulsion Company

The goal of the new company, based at 165 Broadway, New York, was the exploitation of his mechanical engineering inventions.

Opens New Office

He found new business premises in the Woolworth Building, at that time the tallest building in the world, at 233 Broadway. Lacking funds to pay the rent, he was forced to leave after several months.

Sells License for Speedometer Patent

The license was bought by the Boston company Waltham Watch, one of the largest American companies making precision instruments, watches and speedometers. According to Tesla’s documentation, the company sold about 60,000 speedometers, mostly built into mass-manufactured vehicles.

Awarded The Gold Edison Medal

The medal, awarded by the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, was created in 1904. It was awarded to Tesla on December 13, 1916, for his discoveries in the field of polyphase and high-frequency currents. It was formally presented at a ceremony at the American Institute of Electrical Engineers on May 18, 1917.

Publishes “My Inventions”

He published his famous autobiography “My Inventions” in six instalments in the well-known popular scientific magazine Electrical Experimenter. The magazine was founded and edited by his friend and great admirer, the inventor Hugo Gernsback (1884-1967).

Submits Two Patent Applications for Chemical Technology

On June 15, he applied for patents for “Process of Treating and Transporting Sulfur” and “Apparatus for Treating and Transporting Sulfur” under the numbers 645,568 and 645,569. The evaluation process was rather lengthy but, in June 1926, the patents were granted, with minor corrections required by the Patent Office. However, Tesla failed to pay the twenty-dollar tax within the legal deadline of six months, so his application was considered withdrawn.

Celebrates 75th Birthday

On his 75th birthday he received greetings from more than seventy esteemed pioneers of science and technology of the day, Nobel laureates and important business magnates. Among them were Albert Einstein, Lee de Forest and many others. The American journalist Kenneth Swezey compiled a special book with these greetings which Tesla kept in his safe to the end of his life.

Proposes Projects in Telegeodynamics

Tesla used the newly-coined term “telegeodynamics” to describe a technology for transmitting energy mechanically through the earth. He offered his mechanical oscillators and transmission and receiving apparatus to renowned American companies such as Texas, Westinghouse and Buffalo. These devices could be used to transmit signals and messages through the earth in navigation and industry and for the production of various revolutionary effects.

Survives Traffic Accident

During one of his regular walks through the streets of New York he was hit by a car. He was severely injured and took several months to recover. The injury made it impossible to maintain his carefully nurtured rhythm of life and contributed to his gradual weakening and eventual death.

Nikola Tesla Dies at 86

Tesla died in his sleep, in his apartment on the 33rd floor of the New Yorker Hotel, where he had spent the last nine years of his life. A memorial service was held on January 10, broadcast live by Radio New York. New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia read the eulogy, which was written by Louis Adamic, the Slovenian writer, essayist and translator. Croatian violinist Zlatko Balokovic and the Sloven choir performed the Serbian patriotic song “Tamo daleko” (Far Away) at the memorial. The Royal Yugoslav Government Information Centre organized the ceremony of Tesla’s funeral and published an announcement about the protocol for it. Tesla’s remains lay in the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home. The funeral service was held on January 12, at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. A delegation of thirty Yugoslav officers contributed to the ceremony. Nikola Tesla was interred in the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale on January 12, 1943. Two and a half months after his death, on March 25, 1943, at the request of Sava Kosanovic, the remains of Nikola Tesla were cremated.