The Forgotten Man Who Built the 21st Century

Nikola Tesla

The world has seen some incredible minds in its evolution. Einstein, Jobs, Darwin, Buffet, Banksy, Carlsen, da Vinci, Newton, Dickens, to name but a few. However, there is always one mind who hasn't been understood and appreciated as much as he deserves; Nikola Tesla.

No, this isn't a car that Elon Musk has built. Nikola Tesla is an innovative genius who, along with Edison, formed the basis of alternating current. Tesla also invented how light could be harnessed and distributed, progressed the development of X-rays, radio, the television remote control and most prominently the electric motor.

The reality is, when someone says "Tesla" today, they think of Elon Musk or an electric car - seemingly never knowing the true source of the name and ingenuity. Tesla was a creator, dreamer and inventor and much of his work has been lost or hidden through the years since his death.

Tesla was born on July 10, 1856, in the Austrian Empire, now Croatia. He was the fourth of five children. After a checkered academic career in Europe, he worked as a telegraph drafter and electrician before moving to the United States to work for Thomas Edison in 1884.

“It’s a sociological fact that Elon Musk took the Tesla name and launched Nikola Tesla into the stratosphere,” says Marc Seifer. “Tesla’s risen to the surface again, and now he’s getting his due.”

The Modern World

The modern world as we know it today was built on the ingenuity of Nikola Tesla. Yet, nobody knows of him and his incredible inventions - most of which were shelved and not used for the public domain. It has also been said that Nikola Tesla developed free energy for the world, but the capitalists didn't deem it worthy for public use.

Tesla's long-held dream was to create a source of inexhaustible, clean energy that was free for everyone. He strongly opposed centralised coal-fired power stations that spewed carbon dioxide into the air that humans breathed.

The Tesla Coil

Interestingly, Tesla developed the Tesla Coil which piggy-backed on the idea of creating free energy for the world.

The Tesla Coil was invented in 1891, "before traditional iron-core transformers were invented. It has made of a primary and secondary coil, and each has its own capacitor, or energy storage."

In simple terms, the Tesla Coil was built to broadcast electricity wirelessly. This is where you can see how how it truly works.

Innovation certainly ran through Tesla’s blood. Tesla once wrote: “My mother was an inventor of the first order and would, I believe, have achieved great things had she not been so remote from modern life and its multi-fold opportunities. She invented and constructed all kinds of tools and devices and wove the finest designs from thread which was spun by her.” Tesla credited both his parents’ influence for his success.

As mentioned, Tesla worked for Thomas Edison during the course of his life. However, most do not know that Edison and Tesla eventually parted ways as their beliefs on electricity began to differ.

Tesla, a believer of alternating current (AC) and Edison, who favoured direct current (DC). This battle would be the basis for the entire nation's electrical system. "Edison launched a campaign against AC, claiming it was dangerous and could kill people; Tesla countered by publicly subjecting himself to 250,000-volt shocks to demonstrate AC’s safety. Ultimately, alternating current won the fight."

Energy and 3, 6 and 9

Unfortunately, Tesla was never truly praised for the work he did in this and other fields. Amongst his incredible genius, he was a man of divine understanding, too. He understood energy beyond its simple principles within alternating currents and the tesla coil. He knew how the universe was fundamentally built on the principles of energy.

If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.

Tesla was also obsessed with numbers. Particularly the numbers 3, 6 and 9. He understood vortex based mathematics and knew that the world we live in today was built on the principles of energy and mathematics. For example: doubling 1, then 2, and so on creates a pattern that excludes 3 6 and 9. Scientist Marko Rodin?believes?that 3 6 9, then, represents a “flux field” or a vector from the third to the fourth dimension. Threes also appear often in human history.

As seen on an article published on ati, written by Erik Hawkins, he states that "triangles have three sides — as do pyramids. Trinities abound in human history, as in the “Father, Son, and Holy Ghost”. Tesla himself would point to the trifecta of “energy, frequency, and vibration” which he believed contained the secrets of the universe."

It is fair to say that with high intelligence comes a form of strangeness, too.

Tesla manifested his obsession with the numbers 3, 6 and 9 in numerous ways. He was known to walk three times around the block before entering a building. It is also said that Tesla would wash his dishes with 18 napkins (18 being divisible by 9, 6 and 3). Tesla would also only stay in hotel rooms that were divisible by three and always round receipt balances up to a total that was divisible by three. I am not sure if he was generally just a crazy inventor, or if the 250,000 volts that he subjected himself to made him crazy.

Thanks to Tesla's early work, wireless transfer of energy is finally being realised today - from wireless chargers for electric toothbrushes and smartphones, to?wireless electric vehicle charging, a technology being researched at the Energy Department’s?National Labs.

Shelved Patents

Amongst the great inventions Tesla did build, there lies a mountain of ideas and patents that were never built.

Earthquake Machine

"In 1893, Tesla patented a steam-powered mechanical oscillator that would vibrate up and down at high speeds to generate electricity. Years after patenting his invention he?told?reporters that one day while attempting to tune his mechanical oscillator to the vibration of the building housing his?New York City?laboratory, he caused the ground to shake."

If your hate could be turned into electricity, it would light up the whole world.

Thought Camera

Tesla believed it could be possible to photograph thoughts. The inspiration came while he was doing experiments in 1893, Tesla told a newspaper reporter decades later: “I became convinced that a definite image formed in thought must, by reflex action, produce a corresponding image on the retina, which might possibly be read by suitable apparatus.”

I wonder if this supports the notion of an image that is formed in thought then has to translate into the physical; mind into matter.

My brain is only a receiver, in the Universe there is a core from which we obtain knowledge, strength and inspiration. I have not penetrated into the secrets of this core, but I know that it exists.

Wireless Energy

In 1901, Tesla secured $150,000 from financier?J.P. Morgan?to build a 185-foot-tall, mushroom-shaped tower on the north shore of Long Island capable of transmitting messages, telephony and images to ships at sea and across the Atlantic Ocean by using the Earth to conduct signals.

As work began on the structure, called?Wardenclyffe Tower,?Tesla wanted to adapt it to allow for wireless power delivery, believing from his experiments on radio and microwaves that he could light up New York City by transmitting millions of volts of electricity through the air.

Morgan, however, refused to give Tesla any additional funding for his grandiose scheme. (Some speculate that Morgan cut off funds once he realised that Tesla’s plan would have crippled his other energy-sector holdings.) Tesla abandoned the project in 1906 before it could ever become operational, and Wardenclyffe Tower was dismantled in 1917.

The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine.

Artificial Tidal Wave

The engineer and physicist believed the power of science could be harnessed to prevent war. In 1907 the?New York World?reported on another of Tesla’s military innovations in which wireless telegraphy would trigger the detonations of high explosives at sea to generate tidal waves so vast that they would capsize entire enemy fleets.

Be alone, that is the secret of invention; be alone, that is when ideas are born.

Electric-Powered Supersonic Airship

From the time Tesla was a boy, he had been fascinated with the idea of flight. Combining his knowledge of electrical and mechanical engineering, he began to think more about aviation after the failure of Wardenclyffe. In an article in the July 1919 issue of?Reconstruction?magazine, Tesla discussed his work on developing a supersonic aircraft that would travel eight miles above the surface of the Earth and generate speeds allowing passengers to travel between New York City and London in three hours.

Tesla’s concept called for the aircraft to be powered by electricity transmitted wirelessly from power plants on the ground, eliminating the need for aircrafts to carry fuel. “The power supply is virtually unlimited, as any number of power plants can be operated together, supplying energy to airships just as trains running on tracks are now supplied with electrical energy through rails or wires,” Tesla said in the article.

One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane.

"Death Beam"

Tesla’s creative mind continued to spark new visions even late in his life. On his 78th birthday, he told?The New York Times?that he had come up with this most important invention, one that would “cause armies of millions to drop dead in their tracks.”

The invention? A military weapon that would accelerate mercury particles at 48 times the speed of sound inside a vacuum chamber and shoot a high-velocity beam “through the free air, of such tremendous energy that [it] will bring down a fleet of 10,000 enemy airplanes at a distance of 250 miles.”

Although the press dubbed it a “death beam,” Tesla believed it a “peace beam” that would foil attacks by airplanes and invading armies and save lives by acting “like an invisible Chinese wall, only a million times more impenetrable.” Tesla offered his particle-beam weapon to numerous governments, including the United States, but the only country to show interest was the?Soviet Union, which conducted a partial test in 1939.

Invention is the most important product of man's creative brain. The ultimate purpose is the complete mastery of mind over the material world, the harnessing of human nature to human needs.

It goes without saying, but Nikola Tesla is a forgotten genius. The man literally built the 21st century with most of his major inventions. If you haven't heard of him before, I'm sure now you know who he is. When somebody says "Tesla" you might initially think of Elon Musk or an electric car company, but now you will know there is a genius behind the name and idea.

Nikola Tesla has been fundamental in my development into adulthood. Tesla was a man of sheer will, creativity and innovation and is a motivation for anyone who wants to create and develop interesting ideas, invent world-changing technologies and strive to further develop the world for the greater good.