The Genius of Tesla

The Genius of Tesla

The Magician One day, a man invited a group of people into his laboratory to watch one of his experiments. As the crowd took their seats, the man, Nikola Tesla, walked calmly to a wooden stage and sat on a chair. Under the stage was a powerful electrical generator. Tesla flipped a switch. Wild streaks of light sparked across the room. Some struck Tesla. When the light show was over, Tesla stepped off the stage unharmed. The crowd burst into applause.

Tesla was no magician. He was a scientist who had just showed how safe a newly discovered form of electric current was. His discovery, alternating current(AC), changed the world. It would go on to power modern industry and light up nations.

Meeting Mr. Edison Tesla was born during a lightning storm in 1856 in Eastern Europe. Tesla's love of inventing came from his mother, who built small household appliances in her spare time. Tesla wanted to study electricity when he grew up. After years of schooling and work, he figured out a way to generate electricity safely by using alternating current. Tesla moved to the United States in 1884 at age twenty-eight. On his second day in America, he walked into Thomas Edison's New York office. Tesla handed the great inventor a letter from one of Edison's European friends. It read: “ My Dear Edison: I know two great men and you are one of them. The other is this young man! "

At the time, Edison was famous as the father of the electrical age. He had invented a lighting system that used lightbulbs and direct current (DC) power stations. Edison gave Tesla a job. Edison promised the young engineer $50, 000 if he could increase the power of his DC electric system in New York City. Tesla accepted the challenge.

Digging Ditches Tesla worked long hours. He slept and ate very little. A few months later, Tesla announced success. Edison, however, refused to pay the $50, 000. He said his offer had only been a joke. Tesla was angry. He quit his job and stormed out of Edison's office. However, word spread about Tesla's achievements. A short time later, a group of businessmen asked Tesla to invent a better lightbulb. His new lightbulb made the businessmen rich. Almost none of the money went to Tesla, however. Tesla ran out of money. He took a job digging ditches for Edison's light company. It paid two dollars per day. Tesla's luck changed when he met A. K. Brown of the Western Union Company. Tesla told Brown about his ideas of how to use alternating current. Brown was impressed. He gave Tesla money to work on his ideas. Working just a few short blocks from Edison's office, Tesla designed and built all the parts needed for an AC power station.