Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and futurist best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system. Some of Tesla's key contributions include developing AC polyphase system of electrical distribution, fluorescent lighting, wireless communication, and the Tesla coil. However, despite his significant contributions, Tesla's work was often overshadowed during his time by Thomas Edison and he struggled financially in his later years. Tesla held over 40 patents related to AC power generation and transmission that helped establish AC as the standard for power transmission worldwide.

1. NIKOLA TESLA
Introduction
Nikola Tesla was beyond a doubt the greatest genius of the 20th century. Our way of life today, the
technology that we take for granted, is all possible because of this one incredible man from Europe.
However, despite all of his contributions to science, his name is little remembered outside the field of
electronics and physics. In fact, Thomas Edison is often mistakenly credited in school textbooks with
inventions that were developed and patented by Tesla.
Most scholars acknowledge that Tesla's obscurity is partially due to his eccentric ways and fantastic
claims during the waning years of his life, of communicating with other planets and death rays. It is now
known that many of these fantastic inventions of Tesla are scientifically accurate and workable. It has
simply taken mankind this long to catch up to the astonishing ideas of a man who died in 1943.
Tesla is preceded in greatness only by Michael Faraday who in 1831 rocked the scientific world with his
discovery that magnetism can produce electricity, if it is accompanied by motion. Faraday discovered the
principle, but not how to make it power the world; Tesla alone accomplished this singular feat. Tesla is
one of only two Americans to have a unit of electrical measurement named in his honor. Names for units
of electrical measurement are derived by using the names of scientists who made the greatest
contributions in electrical science, forming perhaps the most elite group in the world. Throughout the
entire history of electrical science only fifteen men worldwide have received this honor. Tesla is one of
these great men. In addition, Tesla received fifteen honorary degrees from famous universities worldwide,
including Yale and Columbia in the United States. He also received fourteen Awards of Merit from other
world class groups. Dr. David L. Goodstein, Vice Provost and Professor of Physics at California Institute
of Technology, calls Tesla one of the "Saints of Science" and equates him to Leonardo Da Vinci.
Tesla holds over forty U.S. patents (circa 1888) covering our entire system of Polyphase Alternating
Current (AC). These patents are so novel that nobody could ever challenge them in the courts.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in a landmark decision dated June 21, 1943, Case No. 369, overturned
Marconi's basic patent for the invention of radio because Tesla's patent on the four-tuned circuit predated
Marconi's patent. Marconi had simply copied Tesla's work. Tesla's four-tuned circuits two on the
receiving side and two on the transmitting side, secured by U.S. patents #645,576 and #649,621) were the
basis of the U.S. Supreme Court decision (Case #369 decided June 21,1943) to overturn Marconi's basic
patent on the invention of radio.

2. Birth and Childhood
Nikola Tesla was born on 10 July to Serbian parents in the village of Austrian Empire (modern-day
Croatia).
His father, Milutin Tesla, was an Orthodox priest.Tesla's mother, Đuka Tesla whose father was
also an Orthodox priest, had a talent for making home craft tools, mechanical appliances, and the ability
to memorize Serbian epic poems. Đuka had never received a formal education. Nikola credited his eidetic
memory and creative abilities to his mother's genetics and influence. Tesla's progenitors were from
western Serbia, near Montenegro.
Scientific Career
In 1882, Tesla began working for the Continental Edison Company in France, designing and making
improvements to electrical equipment.In June 1884, he relocated to New York Citywhere he was hired by
Thomas Edison to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple
electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving more difficult problems. Tesla was offered the
task of completely redesigning the Edison Company's direct currentgenerators. In 1885, he claimed that
he could redesign Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and
economy. According to Tesla, Company Manager remarked, "There's fifty thousand dollars in it for
you—if you can do it”. After months of work, Tesla fulfilled the task and inquired about payment.
Company Manager, claiming that he was only joking, replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American
humor." Instead, He offered a US$10 a week raise over Tesla's US$18 per week salary; Tesla refused the
offer and immediately resigned.
After leaving Edison's company Tesla partnered with two businessmen in 1886, Robert Lane and
Benjamin Vale, who agreed to finance an electric lighting company in Tesla's name, Tesla Electric Light
& Manufacturing. The company installed electrical arc light based illumination systems designed by
Tesla and also had designs for dynamo electric machine commutators, the first patents issued to Tesla in
the US.
Tesla holds over forty U.S. patents (circa 1888) covering our entire system of Polyphase Alternating
Current (AC). These patents are so novel that nobody could ever challenge them in the courts. In 1888,
Tesla sell these patents to Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company.
Tesla's alternating current work put him firmly on the "AC" side of the so-called "War of
Currents,"an electrical standards battle waged between Thomas Edison and George
Westinghouse.Tesla's patents, along with the others that Westinghouse's company had acquired
or developed, allowed Westinghouse to build a rival AC system that could compete with Thomas
Edison's DC system.
In 1893, George Westinghouse won the bid to electrify the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition
in Chicago with alternating current, beating out a bid by Edison to electrify the fair with direct
current. This World's Fair devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a key event in the
history of AC power, as Westinghouse demonstrated the safety, reliability, and efficiency of
alternating current to the American public.[55][56] At the Columbian Exposition, Tesla
demonstrated a series of electrical effects previously performed throughout America and
Europe,[8]:76 included using high-voltage, high-frequency alternating current to light a wireless
gas-discharge lamp.
Starting in 1894, Tesla began investigating what he referred to as radiant energy of "invisible"
kinds when he had noticed damaged film in his lab in previous experiments. But he lost hundreds
of invention models, plans, notes, laboratory data, tools, photographs, valued at $50,000. This
was a missed opportunity for him to discover X-rays which was later discovered by Rontgen.

3. In 1898, Tesla demonstrated a radio-controlled boat—which he dubbed "teleautomaton"—to the
public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden.[35] The crowd that witnessed
the demonstration made outrageous claims about the workings of the boat, such as magic,
telepathy, and being piloted by a trained monkey hidden inside. In 1900, Tesla was granted
patents for a "system of transmitting electrical energy" and "an electrical transmitter." When
Guglielmo Marconi made his famous first-ever transatlantic radio transmission in 1901, Tesla
quipped that it was done with 17 Tesla patents. This was the beginning of years of patent battles
over radio with Tesla's patents being upheld in 1903, followed by a reverse decision in favor of
Marconi in 1904. In 1943, a Supreme Court of the United States decision restored the prior
patents of Tesla.
Tesla investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Tesla
stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. The great distances and the nature of
what Tesla was detecting from lightning storms confirmed his belief that the earth had a resonant
frequency.
He produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts and up to
135 feet long).Thunder from the released energy was heard 15 miles away in Cripple Creek,
Colorado. People walking along the street observed sparks jumping between their feet and the
ground. Sparks sprang from water line taps when touched. Light bulbs within 100 feet of the lab
glowed even when turned off. Butterflies were electrified, swirling in circles with blue halos of
St. Elmo's fire around their wings
In 1900, with $150,000 ($4,252,200 in today's dollars), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe
Tower facility. Wardenclyffe Tower , also known as the Tesla Tower, was an early wireless
transmission tower designed by Nikola Tesla in Shoreham, New York and intended for
commercial trans-Atlantic wirelesstelephony, broadcasting, and proof-of-concept demonstrations
of wireless power transmission. It never operated due to financial reasons, and the tower was
demolished in 1917.
On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During
1910–1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines
were tested at 100–5,000 hp.Tesla invented a steam-powered mechanical oscillator—Tesla's
oscillator. While experimenting with mechanical oscillators at his Houston Street lab, Tesla
allegedly generated a resonance of several buildings. As the speed grew, it is said that the
machine oscillated at the resonance frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the
danger, he was forced to use a sledge hammer to terminate the experiment realizing that earth
quake can happen, just as the police arrived.