Much of what we know about science and the electrical world around us is primarily due to two men, Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison. Each man invented a way of using electricity, while both conflicted against each other, both of their inventions of current, as well as others, are used today.
First, Nikola Tesla's history explains his interests in inventions. Tesla was born what is now Smiljan, Croatia, on July 10, 1856. Tesla's drive for invention was greatly influenced by his mother, Djuka Mandic. She was a small household appliances inventor, in her spare time. Tesla's father however was a Orthodox priest and a writer who pushed his son to also become a priest himself, but Tesla's fondness of the sciences took him through many institutes and
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Edison was the most famous of the three as he had developed the first practical light bulb in the late 1870's. Although Edison and Tesla had worked together, Tesla helping to perfect Edison's designs while also promoting his own, they conflicted and eventually separated. This was partly due to Edison's concerning thoughts about Tesla's alternating current system. Using propaganda tactics as Edison felt threatened by Tesla's alternating current system as it could distribute current over longer distances more economically, Edison slandered alternating current by saying it was more dangerous by publically electrocuting animals and suggesting that Tesla's system should be used as the new form of execution for inmates on death row rather than the traditional hanging as it was the faster, more deadly option compared to its predecessor. In the end Edison lost the "war" as Westinghouse, the company using the alternating current systems, won the contract to supply electricity to the "1893 World's Fair in Chicago". This showcase became the launching pad for Tesla's system as it allowed for the accomplishment of building a hydro-electric power plant at Niagara Falls in 1896. This achievement is informally know as the end of the "War of Currents" as alternating current became the official electric power for all industries. w as the end of the "War of Currents" as alternating current became the official electric power for all
Nikola Tesla was born on July 10th, 1856, in Smiljan, Austria-Hungary, which is in modern-day Croatia.
His hotheadedness forced him to try and dissuade the public of Tesla’s idea. Due to that, and his popularity, Edison was able to commit a multitude of demonstrations to reveal the dangers of Tesla’s alternating current system. One of his more cruel methods was to electrocute animals in public using alternating current. Nikola Tesla invested and created a hydraulic dam on Niagara Falls using alternating current. This marked the beginning of the reign of alternating current.
Nikola Tesla was born in 1856. At exactly midnight on July 10th, the village of Smiljan in Croatia welcomed a bouncing baby boy into the world. Little did they know the impact he would have for generations to come. Tesla’s father was a Serbian-Orthodox priest and his mother, though unschooled, was very smart and managed the household affairs. When Tesla was 7 years old, he lost his brother, Daniel, in a riding accident.
The paramount of his inventions was AC power distribution. Numerous times he had been told such an idea was impossible, yet he was persistent and changed the world once he made his dream come into fruition. At first, Direct Current power had been a revolutionary advanced idea that brought light to the world and started a golden age in technology. Tesla and Thomas Edison were major parties in this contemporary age of electricity. Edison exploited connections, questionable deals, and influence to undermine Tesla and maintain DC relevancy during their time period. However, for today’s modern world and industry AC holds highly superior advantages over DC. Early on, Tesla and Westinghouse realized that for electrical power to be practical, it was essential to be efficiently transmitted over extraordinarily long distances. AC allows the manipulation of higher voltages and therefore lower currents; making lighter conductors a cheaper and viable ameliorate option. Tesla took advantage of electromagnetic induction mechanical
Tesla's AC system eventually caught the attention of American engineer and business man George Westinghouse, who was seeking a solution to supplying the nation with long-distance power. Convinced that Tesla's inventions would help him achieve this, in 1888 he purchased his patents for $60,000 in stock and money the Westinghouse Corporation. As interest in an alternating-current system grew, Tesla and Westinghouse were in competition with Thomas Edison, who was intent on selling his direct-current system to the nation. A negative-press campaign was soon waged by Edison, in an attempt to undermine interest in AC power (Nikola tesla biography,
The Australian rock group, AC/DC, discovered its name from its guitar player's sister's sewing machine that could be powered by either alternating currents or direct currents. These forms of power were developed by two inventors Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla in the late 1880's. During this time, the Chicago Fair needed a power source, so there was a bid to see which source could power the Fair while spending the least amount of money. This bid sparked the War of the Currents in which Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla conflicted over which source would power the Exposition.
There have been many scientists throughout time that have made an enormous impact on the world such as Newton, Aristotle, Galileo, Einstein, and Nikola Tesla. These are just a few of the brightest minds ever to exist. Nikola Tesla was born on July 10, 1854 in Smiljan, Croatia, and spent his childhood there. His mother was the person that first got him interested in science because she invented small household tools in her spare time. Tesla’s father was a priest and did not approve of his passion for science as much as his mother did.
Staring in the late 1880s, Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla became enthralled in a competition for power using their currents. Edison had derived a method of direct current, which was a "current that runs continually in a single direction, like in a battery or a fuel cell" (Lantero). A standard in the United States, at the time, this DC method did not allow for easy conversion between voltages. A solution to this problem, Tesla developed the the alternating current, a current which diverse direction and can be easily converted to higher or lower voltages. As a fight back to this current, Edison started to discourage the AC current, creating an electric chair using the AC current. Similarly, at the Chicago's World's Fair, General Electric wanted to use Edison's DC current to power the event, but eventually lost to Tesla's AC current under Westinghouse. Another victory for Tesla was installing the first modern station at Niagra Falls in Buffalo, New York. His AC current powered not only Buffalo, but the entirety of the Eastern United States. Contradictorily, Edison's DC current today powers computers, solar cells, and electric vehicles. Still, the AC current still predominantly powers most other needs for electricity (Lantero). With both power transmission systems still in use today, the War of Currents has yet to end.
Nikola Tesla had many ideas that were able to illuminate many others as well. In his studies, he found out ways to use electromagnets to produce energy, redirect an electrical current, and find ways to use long distance transmission. With his AC circuit, he improved the DC circuit and then became emminent with his influences. Using electromagnetism, he was able to produce mechanical and electrical energy efficiently. Transmissions were also a major invention that he invented which were able to make radios and power lines. His contributions to electrical studies lit up the world in a very shocking
His salary at the Edison Company had been modest. For the next two years he had a difficult time, but in 1887 he was backed to form the Tesla Electric Company in New York. He was now able to construct the alternating current machines he had visualized earlier (Nutt). This shows how Tesla was able to build his brand from the ground up from his dedication and brilliance. Another example of his hard work is the fact that he was a great student. He studied at Realschule, Karlstadt (later renamed the Johann-Rudolph-Glauber Realschule Karlstadt); the Polytechnic Institute in Graz, Austria; and the University of Prague during the 1870s. He studied various science subjects which laid the foundation for his promising career (Biography.com editors). These examples show that Nikola had a challenging road to success and did so by his own accord. His persistence and dedication were vital in his accomplishments. In addition to his hard work, he showed an enormous amount of creativity which aided the development of his many
His company was chosen over Edison's to power the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, where Tesla got the opportunity to demonstrate the wonders of his alternating current technology. In 1895, Tesla finally got the opportunity to make his ideas about alternating current technology a reality. He was asked to create a generator that could use Niagara Falls’ energy to power Buffalo, New York. This put Tesla’’s company far ahead of Edison’s. Funny enough, Edison started to put alternating current technology in his own power station. In other words, the idea he had denied for years had become part of his
Nikola Tesla was born on July 10, 1856 into a Serbian family, that lived in the Austrian Empire. To be more specific he was born in Smiljan, Croatia. His father was a priest, while his mom watched over Nikola and made small household appliances. Nikola also had a brother named Daniel, but when Tesla was seven his brother died in a riding accident.
Nikola Tesla was born in Smiljan, Croatia at midnight between July 9th and 10th 1856. He was intelligent since his early childhood. He soon became interested in engineering and he studied it at the Technical University in Graz, Austria, from 1877 to 1880. Right after that he went to the University of Prague in 1880, but his father had died and he withdrew his studies from the University soon after. Tesla always dreamed of becoming an electrical engineer and to invent a new type of power transmission instead of Direct Current (DC). He mourned for his father for about a year, but he had to return to his work. In 1881 he went to Budapest to work as an engineer for a telephone company, but this isn't what he wanted to in life. Tesla's
In 1891, at the age of 35, he became a naturalized American citizen. In 1893, at the World's Fair, Tesla and Westinghouse made history by having the first exhibit ever powered by electricity. He demonstrated several things, including the fluorescent light bulb. This was to lead to problems with Edison, as Tesla was in favor of AC power, while Edison was promoting DC power systems.
In New Jersey Tesla went about improving Edison’s line of dynamos while working in Edison’s lab. It was here that his variation of opinion with Edison over direct current versus alternating current began. This disagreement soon became the war of the currents as Edison fought a losing battle to protect his investment in direct current equipment and facilities. Tesla began pointing out the worthlessness of Edison’s direct current electrical powerhouses that have been building up and down the Atlantic seaboard. The secret, he felt, lay in the use of alternating current, because to him all energies were cyclic. Edison’s lamps were weak and worthless when supplied by direct current. This system had a severe disadvantage in that it could not be transported more than two miles due to its incapability to step up to high voltage levels necessary for long distance transmission. Because of this a direct current power station was required every two miles. Direct current flows continuously in one direction; alternating current changes direction fifty or sixty times per second and can be stepped up to vary high voltage levels, minimizing power loss across great distances. Nikola Tesla developed polyphase alternating current system of generators, motors and transformers. He held forty basic U.S. patents on the system, which George Westinghouse bought, wanting to supply America with the Tesla system. Edison did not want to lose his direct current