J.P. Morgan had built one of the largest financial
empires of the century. Nikola was invited to Morgan's home. Tesla asked
J.P. Morgan for the money he needed to start the Wardenclyffe project. Morgan
turned him down. Tesla offered him 51% of the patent rights to his inventions for
$150,000.00. Morgan accepted.
Tesla was hoping other investors would get interested
later on after the project took shape. Nikola ran out of money before it was
completed. He went back to Morgan and asked for more money.
Morgan loaned it to him. Delays in receiving new equipment plagued
Tesla. His motors and dynamos were not easily produced because of their
unusual design. Equipment for their manufacture had to be specially
ordered. This caused unwanted delays. Tesla sought to have this project
completed in nine months. After one year Morgan withdrew because he hadn't seen a
return on his investment. His classic argument was, if any one can draw on the
power, where do we put the meter?
I personally think if we install this system on earth
today with modern materials, we can charge for the purchase of an antenna for each
customer and a flat rate for the power consumed. Of course the antenna would
be a "smart" antenna. It would only allow a certain maximum amount of
power to be consumed at any given time. There are ways to implement this technology
in a new social structure.
Marconi
The U.S. Supreme Court in 1943, held
Marconi's most important patents invalid, recognizing Nikola Tesla's work more
significant. Nikola Tesla is the true father of radio , not
Marconi.... I discovered a web site which is devoted to Marconi, and it says that
Marconi is "the father of
radio!" (New Window) I would ask you please, email the author of that web
site and make him/her understand the U.S. Supreme Courts decision in
1943. Nikola Tesla deserves credit for HIS inventions.
Also follow this LINK.
(New Window)
Michael Faraday
Tesla is preceded in greatness only by
Michael Faraday who in 1831 rocked the scientific world with his discovery that magnetism
can produce electricity...if it is accompanied by motion. Faraday discovered the
principle, but not how to make it power the world; Tesla alone accomplished this singular
feat.
Here is a task for you to try:
Go check your encyclopedia to find the answers to the
following questions: (answers are given in parentheses)
1) Who invented the radio? (Marconi)
2) Who discovered X-rays? (Roentgen)
3) Who invented the vacuum tube amplifier? (Forest)
In fact, while you're at it, check to see who discovered
the fluorescent bulb, neon lights, speedometer, the automobile ignition system, and the
basics behind radar, electron microscope, and the microwave oven. Of course,
the ancient Egyptians had the Light bulb before Tesla was born but that's beside the point
here.
Chances are that you will see little mention of a guy
named Nikola Tesla, the most famous scientist in the world at the turn of the century.
In fact, few people today have ever heard of the guy.
Good old Thomas Edison made sure of that.
After all, Tesla was considered an eccentric who talked
of death rays that could destroy 10,000 airplanes at a distance of 250 miles, claimed to
be able split the Earth in two, believed that both voice and image could be transmitted
through the air (in the late 1800's), and essentially told Edison to take his DC
electrical system and st-ck it you k-ow w-ere.
In other words, anyone that has even heard of Tesla
probably considers him to be a first class wacko.
But, the times are a changin'. The problem is that Tesla
probably could do all these things that he claimed were possible. In fact, Tesla invented
every single one of the items listed above (but gets no credit) and much more. Look around
you and chances are Tesla is somehow responsible for most of the things that make modern
life so modern.
Recap:
No doubt about it, Nikola Tesla is the greatest mind
since da Vinci. Tesla had an extraordinary memory and spoke six languages. He
spent four years at the Polytechnic Institute at Gratz studying math, physics, and
mechanics.
What made Tesla great, however, was his amazing
understanding of electricity. Remember that this was a time when electricity was still in
its infancy. The lightbulb hadn't even been invented yet(of course it has; the ancient
Egyptians had it!). When Tesla first came to the United States in 1884, he
worked for Thomas Edison. Edison had just patented the lightbulb, so he needed a system to
distribute electricity.
Edison had all sorts of problems with his DC system of
electricity. He promised Tesla big bucks in bonuses if he could get the bugs out of the
system. Tesla ended up saving Edison over $100,000 (millions of $$$ by today's dollars),
but Edison refused to live up to his end of the bargain.
Tesla quit and Edison spent the rest of his life trying
to squash Tesla's genius (and the main reason Tesla is unknown today).
Tesla devised a better system for electrical transmission
- the AC (alternating current) system that we use in our homes today. AC offered great
advantages over the DC system. By using Tesla's newly developed transformers, AC voltages
could be stepped up and transmitted over long distances through thin wires. DC could not
(requiring a large power plant every square mile while transmitting through very thick
cables). Of course, a system of transmission would be incomplete without devices to run on
them. So, he invented the motors that are used in every appliance in your home. This was
no simple achievement - scientists of the late 1800's were convinced that no motor could
be revised for an alternating current system, making the use of AC a waste of time.
After all, if the current reverses direction 60 times a second, the motor will rock back
and forth and never get anywhere. Tesla solved this problem easily and proved everyone
wrong.
He was using fluorescent bulbs in his lab some forty
years before industry "invented" them. At World's Fairs and similar exhibitions,
he took glass tubes and molded them into the shapes of famous scientists' names - the
first neon signs that we see all around us today. I almost forgot - Tesla designed the
world's first hydroelectric plant, located in Niagara Falls. He also patented the first
speedometer for cars.
Word began to spread about his AC system and it
eventually reached the ears of George Westinghouse. Tesla signed a contract with
Westinghouse under which he would receive $2.50 for each kilowatt of AC electricity sold.
Suddenly, Tesla had the cash to start conducting all the
experiments he ever dreamed of. But Edison had too much money invested in his DC system,
so Tommy (Edison) did his best to discredit Tesla around every turn.
Edison constantly tried to show that AC electricity was
far more dangerous than his DC power.
Tesla counteracted by staging his own marketing campaign.
At the 1893 World Exposition in Chicago (attended by 21 million people), he demonstrated
how safe AC electricity was by passing high frequency AC power through his body to power
light bulbs. He then was able to shoot large lightning bolts from his Tesla coils to the
crowd without harm. Nice trick!
When the royalties owed to Tesla started to exceed $1
million, Westinghouse ran into financial trouble. Tesla realized that if his contract
remained in effect, Westinghouse would be out of business and he had no desire to deal
with the creditors. His dream was to have cheap AC electric available to all people. Tesla
took his contract and ripped it up! Instead of becoming the world's first billionaire, he
was paid $216,600 outright for his patents.
In 1898, he demonstrated to the world the first remote
controlled model boat at Madison Square Garden. So you can thank Tesla for the invention
of those remote controlled planes, cars, and boats (and televisions!), also.
Tesla had a dream of providing free energy to the world.
In 1900, backed by $150,000 from financier J.P. Morgan, Tesla began testing of his so
called "Wireless Broadcasting System" tower on Long Island, New York. This
broadcasting tower was intended to link the world's telephone and telegraph services, as
well as transmit pictures, stock reports, and weather information worldwide.
Unfortunately, Morgan cut funding when he realized that
it meant FREE energy for the world.
Many stories claim that the U. S. government destroyed
the tower during World War One for fear that the German u-boat spies would use the tower
as a landmark to navigate by. In reality, Tesla ran into financial trouble after Morgan
cut funding for the project and the tower was sold for scrap to pay off creditors.
The world thought he was nuts - after all, transmission
of voice, picture, and electricity was unheard of at this time.
What they didn't know was that Tesla had already
demonstrated the principles behind radio nearly ten years before Marconi's supposed
invention. In fact, in 1943 (the year Tesla died), the Supreme Court ruled that Marconi's
patents were invalid due to Tesla's previous descriptions. Still, most references do not
credit Tesla with the invention of radio. (Sidenote: Marconi's radio did not transmit
voices - it transmitted a signal - something Tesla had years before.)
At this point, the press started to exaggerate Tesla's
claims. Tesla reported that he had received radio signals from Mars and Venus. Today we
know that he was actually receiving the signals from distant stars, but too little was
known about the universe at that time. Instead, the press had a field day with his
"outrageous" claims.
In his Manhattan lab, Tesla made the earth into an
electric tuning fork. He managed to get a steam-driven oscillator to vibrate at the same
frequency as the ground beneath him (like Ella Fitgerald breaking the glass with her voice
in those old Memorex commercials). The result? An earthquake on all the surrounding city
blocks. The buildings trembled, the windows broke, and the plaster fell off the walls.
Tesla contended that, in theory, the same principle could
be used to destroy the Empire State Building or even possibly split the Earth in two.
Tesla had accurately determined the resonant frequencies of the Earth almost 60 years
before science could confirm his results.
Don't think he didn't attempt something like splitting
the Earth open (well, sort of).
In his Colorado Springs lab in 1899, he sent waves of
energy all the way through the Earth, causing them to bounce back to the source (providing
the theory for today's accurate earthquake seismic stations). When the waves came back, he
added more electricity to it.
The result? The largest man-made lightning bolt ever
recorded - 130 feet! - a world's record still unbroken! The accompanying thunder was heard
22 miles away. The entire meadow surrounding his lab had a strange blue glow, similar to
that of St. Elmo's Fire.
But, this was only a warm-up for his real experiment!
Unfortunately, he blew out the local power plant's equipment and he was never able to
repeat the experiment.
At the beginning of World War I, the government
desperately searched for a way to detect German submarines. The government put Thomas
Edison in charge of the search for a good method. Tesla proposed the use of energy waves -
what we know today as radar - to detect these ships. Edison rejected Tesla's idea as
ludicrous and the world had to wait another 25 years until it was invented.
His reward for a lifetime of creativity? The prized (to
everyone but Tesla) Edison Medal! A real slap in the face after all the verbal abuse Tesla
took from Edison.
The stories go on and on.
Industry's attempt (obviously very successful) to purge
him from the scientific literature had driven him into exile for nearly twenty years.
Lacking capital, he was forced to place his untested theories into countless notebooks.
The man who invented the modern world died nearly
penniless at age 86 on January 7, 1943. More than two thousand people attended his
funeral.
In his lifetime, Tesla received over 800 different
patents. He probably would have exceeded Edison's record number if he wasn't always broke
- he could afford very few patent applications during the last thirty years of his life.
Unlike Edison, Tesla was an original thinker whose ideas typically had no precedent in
science.
Unfortunately, the world does not financially reward
people of Tesla's originality. We only award those that take these concepts and turn them
into a refined, useful product.
Scientists today continue to scour through his notes.
Many of his far flung theories are just now being proven by our top scientists. For
example, the Tesla bladeless disk turbine engine that he designed, when coupled with
modern materials, is proving to be among the most efficient motors ever designed. His 1901
patented experiments with cryogenic liquids and electricity provide the foundation for
modern superconductors. He talked about experiments that suggested particles with
fractional charges of an electron - something that scientists in 1977 finally discovered -
quarks!
Would you like to learn more about the
greatest inventor that ever lived? Go HERE.
Born July 10, 1856 in Smiljan, a small village in Croatia, Nikola
Tesla was the discoverer of the Alternating Current(AC) power system. His other
contributions as an inventor are to numerous to mention here, I'll just give a
few. These contributions include hydro electric generators, the AC power
distribution system we still use today, the X-ray machine, MRI, the discovery of a
rotating magnetic field, Radio and much, much more.
