TESLA IS THE TRUE UNSUNG PROPHET OF THE ELECTRIC AGE

Description

IntroductionNikola Tesla was born in Croatia (then part of Austria-Hungary) on July 9,1856, and died January 7, 1943. He was the electrical engineer whoinvented the AC (alternating current) induction motor, which made theuniversal transmission and distribution of electricity possible. Teslabegan his studies in physics and mathematics at Graz Polytechnic, and thentook philosophy at the University of Prague. He worked as an electricalengineer in Budapest, Hungary, and subsequently in France and Germany. In1888 his discovery that a magnetic field could be made to rotate if twocoils at right angles are supplied with AC current 90� out of phase madepossible the invention of the AC induction motor. The major advantage ofthis motor being its brushless operation, which many at the time believedimpossible.Tesla moved to the United States in 1884, where he worked for ThomasEdison who quickly became a rival, Edison being an advocate of theinferior DC power transmission system. During this time, Tesla wascommissioned with the design of the AC generators installed at NiagaraFalls. George Westinghouse purchased the patents to his induction motor,and made it the basis of the Westinghouse power system which stillunderlies the modern electrical power industry today.He also did notable research on high-voltage electricity and wirelesscommunication; at one point creating an earthquake which shook the groundfor several miles around his New York laboratory. He also devised a systemwhich anticipated world-wide wireless communications, fax machines, radar,radio- guided missiles and aircraft.