The Sad Fall of a Genius: What Went Wrong for Nikola Tesla?

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

One of the greatest minds in the entire history of mankind, an outstanding scientist who stands apart from his fellow physicists is Nikola Tesla. Without his scientific discoveries and ingenious inventions, all of our usual modern life is inconceivable. A genius who has been compared to Leonardo da Vinci, a man far ahead of his time. Why is his name undeservedly ignored by physics textbooks, while he himself died in a hotel room, alone and in despair?

It all started back in 1856, in the small village of Smilyany. Now it is the territory of Croatia. The future great inventor was born into a poor large family of a Serbian Orthodox priest. From childhood, the boy was distinguished by a brilliant mind and a desire to learn. Once Nikola learned to read, it was impossible to stop him! He simply "swallowed" books, one after another, very often staying up even at night.

In his sophomore year at the University of Prague, Nikola invents an induction alternator. His teachers didn't appreciate the idea. Tesla was called crazy, and the project itself was nonsense. Criticism not only did not cool the ardor of the young scientist, it spurred him to action. In 1882, Tesla assembled his generator and his idea worked!

All inventors, without exception, come with ideas that either may not work or are too expensive to create. Also, their inventions may not become popular and practical. After all, they are people too and can make mistakes, no matter how bright they are. Nikola Tesla, for better or for worse, rarely saw any flaws in everything he created and was considered an "overly" proud man. It is possible, of course, that this is justified, given his amazing intellectual ability, but sometimes it can overshadow the correct judgment.

Combined with Nichol's unfortunate lack of business acumen and the uncommunicative habits stemming from the alleged personality disorder, it all resulted in ruin. Tragically, the great genius suffered a crushing disaster, both professionally and personally.

Among other things, most of the time he was completely unable to get along with other inventors and businessmen. He desperately needed the help of the latter, for his bold, far-sighted looking at future projects demanded appropriate funding.

In the late 1870s, Nicola experienced an emotional breakdown. Cherishing dreams of bringing all his amazing ideas to life, in 1884 Nicola went to where dreams come true - to America. Tesla had no relevant acquaintances, no money, only a letter of recommendation for Thomas Edison, from one of his university professors. Edison immediately hired Nicola. The relationship didn't go well from the start. Thomas based all his designs on direct current, and Tesla on alternating current. Edison thought it was stupid.

With all this, Tesla not only assembled his alternator, he also patented his invention! Edison could not stand this. Not only has this upstart turned out to be a dangerous competitor, but also uses funds from Thomas himself! Nikola was again left alone and without money.

His work in the field of alternating current (AC), with his financial patron Westinghouse, competed directly with Thomas Edison's direct current. In many ways Tesla was ahead of even Guglielmo Marconi, the Italian inventor we most closely associate with the invention of modern radio and wireless transmissions. Tesla managed to convince investors to give him money and he opens his own firm Tesla Electric Light Company. Thus, Nicola becomes a formidable competitor to General Electric Thomas Edison.

A real war broke out between the companies. General Electric hired journalists to write horror stories about alternating current in the press. Edison even staged a terrible experiment in 1887, with which he wanted to prove that it is impossible and deadly to use alternating current in everyday life. Thomas was throwing mud at Tesla and his patron Westinghouse for a long time. In the hall, Edison placed a metal plate on which he placed several animals. After that, he connected Tesla's generator to the plate and turned on the current. The animals died to the horror of the audience.

Edison did not rest on this, he advised the authorities to use alternating current for the death penalty in the electric chair. The US government could not then come to a consensus on this issue. Thomas was sure that it would never occur to anyone to use alternating current in everyday life. After all, who would want to have an appliance at home that is identical to an electric chair?

Resourceful Tesla did not remain in debt. At the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, he also conducted an experiment. Nikola passed through himself an alternating current with a voltage of 2 million volts! The astonished audience waited for only coals to be left of the insane inventor. Nicola stood, held the burning Edison bulbs in his hands and smiled at ease, being safe and sound! Let's say thanks to Nikola Tesla for the current in our home sockets!

After these developments, Tesla began to study the possibility of practical application of electromagnetic waves. Nikola experimented with high-frequency oscillations and created his famous resonance transformer, the so-called "Tesla transformer". The scientist dreamed of developing a system for transmitting information and energy over long distances without the help of wires. In the process of creating this transformer, Tesla had to figure out how to insulate the extra-high voltage coils. The scientist invented a method that is still used today. Nicola immersed the coils in linseed oil, paraffin oil, or mineral oil. Now we call this transformer oil. Tesla used his transformer to transmit high frequency energy. Simply put, he invented the antenna a few years before Popov and Marconi! Only in 1943, the US Supreme Court recognized the priority of the invention of radio for Tesla.

After the inventor presented a remotely controlled boat at an exhibition in Madison Square Garden in New York. The world's first radio-controlled model. The inventor was not at all interested in radio, he raved about the idea of wireless power transmission.

For one of his most ambitious projects, Nikola was persuaded to give money to one person - the very wealthy and influential oilman J. P. Getty. When Tesla decided to build a massive communications tower in Long Island, New York, he went to the tycoon for funding.

While Tesla may not have had any special business talent himself, he was (at least in this case) a terrific salesman and convinced Getty to invest US $ 150,000 - a hefty sum in 1898. This last scheme would prove to be Tesla's ultimate failure, as, in the end, even Getty lost faith in Tesla's plans, and refused him additional funding.

In one of his insane experiments, Nikola Tesla created a device that caused an earthquake to be tested. After realizing the danger, the scientist destroyed both the device itself and its blueprints. He feared that this could cause much harm to mankind. The scientist dreamed of creating a worldwide communications system, starting with Wardencliffe, a tower built in the center of Long Island. From there, Tesla was to send the first overseas wireless transmission, and he hoped that this plan would finally bring him the fame, respect and recognition he deserves. For some terrible injustice, this eluded him all his life. Failures, due to Nikola Tesla's lack of business experience, were aggravated by the fact that competitors were stepping on his heels. Thomas Edison also developed rapidly in this area. When Nicola ran out of money, unfortunately, Wardencliffe had to be abandoned, and this was the beginning of the end for a scientist in both personal and professional spheres. During the First World War, Tesla's tower was destroyed by government decision due to the danger of espionage.

In 1915, the world was ready to recognize Tesla's achievements in the field of physics. He was awarded the Nobel Prize. By a strange coincidence, there were two laureates: Tesla and his longtime rival Edison. Nikola Tesla refused the prize - he did not want to share it with anyone, let alone Edison.

In 1931, Tesla removed the gasoline engine from the car and installed an 80 horsepower electric motor. This motor did not have any external power supplies. To all questions, Nikola answered that energy is taken from the ether around us. Tesla drove this car for a week, accelerating to 150 kilometers per hour. As a result, rumors spread that the "mad inventor," as the townsfolk called him, had sold his soul to the devil. This made Nikola very angry.

They say that Tesla destroyed both the mysterious device that gives energy to the engine and the blueprints. Conspiracy theorists believe that all the developments were seized by the special services after the death of the scientist. What is true and what is false - we do not know. Only one thing is known: all the results of the scientist's brilliant research have disappeared without a trace.

Even in his younger years, it became clear that Nikol did not have the necessary abilities to succeed in business. No matter how many brilliant inventions he patented, no matter how hard he worked in his laboratory! Tesla is said to have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder and had many strange habits associated with it. He was one of the most brilliant minds in history, but his unusual personality prevented him from realizing his full potential.

Today, thanks to modern mental health science, we understand that Nikola Tesla probably suffered from a general personality disorder and other problems. These disorders rendered Nicola incapable of acting in his own interests throughout his life. This is a sad story, the end of an inventor who was not only as smart as his competitors, but even surpassed them. Tesla was simply unable to cope with life's turmoil in business and social relationships. Therefore, many simply used it. He was subjected to monstrous psychological pressure. Because of all this, by the end of his life, Tesla found himself "driven to the sidelines" in those areas where he not only deserved, but had to prosper. After a whole series of controversies, Tesla never left a trace in the field of electronics. He died soon after, penniless, miserable and lonely, in a New York hotel.

Today, looking back, we know Nicola as a brilliant scientist, a visionary man worthy of all praise. He is eminently worthy to be named after the progressive automobile company Tesla. Every year history becomes kinder and more condescending to Tesla's reputation. One can only sympathize with this man, for he was his own worst enemy.

A very interesting story is connected with the so-called "Philadelphia Experiment". Tesla was no longer alive, but on the basis of his developments and inventions, the US Navy, with the participation of Albert Einstein, conducted tests. The destroyer Eldridge was equipped with special equipment that was supposed to make the ship invisible to radars. But something went wrong and the destroyer simply evaporated into space. The results of this experiment are still classified. What exactly happened then is not known for certain. There is information that the ship was found on the other coast of America, part of the crew died, some went missing, and the rest ended their days in a psychiatric hospital. The inventor of the fantastic equipment was no longer alive and no one could explain anything. Einstein subsequently also destroyed all of his latest developments.

How far the great genius Tesla advanced in his works and developments, we can only guess. Many of his ideas, which did not find understanding in his time, would now be very useful. But the great scientist left many unsolved mysteries.

Unfortunately, brilliant scientists often have a very difficult fate, read our article about another brilliant scientist how a mathematician managed to defeat his own schizophrenia.