When we talk about the greatest scientists in human history, the name of Nikola Tesla should be the first to come to mind. The inventor of the radio, remote control, X-rays, Tesla coil, neon light, AC motor, and many others is claimed to be one of the world´s greatest and most mysterious minds. His outstanding intelligence and futuristic inventions brought him fame but also many difficulties as many people from that period did not understand his brilliance.
Who Was Nikola Tesla?
Nikola Tesla was born to Serbian parents, in Smiljan, present-day Croatia, on July 10, 1856. When he was three years old, he experienced an episode that would mark the direction of his life: while patting the back of his cat, the touch of his hand produced a shower of sparks and he wanted to find out the cause of it. He asked his father who was an orthodox priest, and he explained that it was the same phenomenon that occurred in trees during a storm: electricity. From that moment until the day of his death, Nikola Tesla would dedicate his life to solving that mystery. He claimed that electricity was one of Earth´s biggest potentials and that there is a non-ending source of electricity, but we just have to find the right way to benefit from it. In fact, one of his biggest inventions was supposed to be free wireless energy over the globe (https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidbressan/2019/07/10/how-nikola-tesla-planned-to-use-earth-for-wireless-power-transfer/?sh=14ee7fce7490), available to everybody on the planet by just using antennas to make it happen. Unfortunately, Tesla´s financial supporters backed out as this invention was not profitable enough for the world´s first capitalists at the time.
Genius Who Loved Games of Chance
At the age of 19, he studied electrical engineering at the Polytechnic Institute of Graz, Austria, where he quickly established himself as a star student. The next six years of his life were devoted to electromagnetic fields and the creation of a motor powered by alternating current. But instead of finishing his studies, Tesla became addicted to the game, lost all his tuition money, dropped out of school, and suffered a nervous breakdown. His favorite games of chance were cards and billiards, and some of his friends say he was also into sports betting. Tesla was a very good friend of Swami Vivekananda, an Indian philosopher and spiritual leader who helped him put his addiction habits under control while also expanding his spirituality. Nowadays, India is famous for its best betting sites, such as https://www.asiabet.org/india/ where they help you with online sports betting by providing a list of the best online bookmakers, so you can bet on the sports you love with no issues. You can find the very best casinos for you based on several factors, including which bonuses are available, the quality of the live dealers, the choice of games, and the level of security. They also tell you which sites are good and which are best to avoid.
The War of the Currents
While Edison was the pioneer and strong advocate of direct current, Tesla was convinced that alternating current was a better solution – current that we continue to use in our homes more than 150 years later. This dispute is known as “the war of the currents” https://www.energy.gov/articles/war-currents-ac-vs-dc-power. In fact, Tesla’s idea was better, but he needed financial support to put it into practice. Edison defended his own theory at all costs and was not going to allow a young foreigner who had just arrived in the city to take away his fame and endanger his empire. For this reason, Edison did the tour all across the United States with the intention of demonstrating the dangerousness of alternating current, for which he did not hesitate to electrocute animals (from dogs and cats to elephants) to discredit Tesla’s proposal. Despite his efforts, Tesla won and his AC system is still used today to power our homes.
Precursor to the Internet and Mobile Phones
Tesla claimed in 1898: “When wireless is perfectly applied the whole earth will be converted into a huge brain, which in fact it is…. We shall be able to communicate with one another instantly, irrespective of distance. Not only this, but through television and telephony we shall see and hear one another as perfectly as though were face to face, despite intervening distances of thousands of miles; and the instruments through which we shall be able to do this will be amazingly simple compared with our present telephone. A man will be able to carry one in his vest pocket”.
Tesla is responsible for countless inventions that have been key pieces for science and technology to develop as they have.
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