Today, 10th July, is the birthday of Nikola Tesla. The genius beyond all measure.
Tale of his life is also the tale of how established names, contrary to all popular perception, try to destroy upcoming rivals, and cheat them.
Edison cheated him of a promised payment, saying,”I was just joking. Don’t you know American humour?”
Then he was cheated of his patents by his business partners, who had quietly inserted the clause in the agreement that all patents will belong to the company, not him.
At one time he was totally bankrupted, and took to ditch-digging for $2 per day (no, not under MGNREGA).
Edison bitterly attacked him for promoting AC current, but lost, because AC was the idea whose time had come. Thomas Edison also lost control of his company, present GE, which switched to AC.
He also experimented with wireless communication and wireless control of devices (our present day remotes). In 1898 he demonstrated to public a wirelessly controlled boat. Public said a hidden monkey was used to control the boat!
He also studied X Ray.
The company which won the patent for AC motor designed by him, Westinghouse Electric, stood loyal to him till his death in 1943, and borne his personal expenses.
He never saw any doctor, not even when a car had hit him, making him bedridden for about six months. Scientists are like that only.
Hello Tesla. The innocent genius. World is a bloody crooked place, full of venals and thugs in three piece suits. So what, knowledge is its own reward.
You see Tesla, in the end it is all AC.
