Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) was a Serbian-American inventor and engineer known for pivotal contributions to the development of alternating current (AC) power systems, including the induction motor and polyphase power distribution. His innovations, showcased at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, played a crucial role in the adoption of AC systems, leading to the first commercial polyphase hydroelectric plant at Niagara Falls in 1896. Tesla's legacy continues to impact various technologies, including wireless communication and high-voltage equipment like the Tesla coil.

1. Nikola T l
Nik l Tesla
From the Mind of a Genius to Today’s
Today’s
y
Electrical Cars and Supercomputers
Vladimir Jelenković
Jelenković
Director of the Nikola Tesla Museum
Belgrade • Serbia
ENGINEERS AUSTRALIA
Perth • 5 July 2011

2. Who is Nikola Tesla?
Nikola Tesla (1856-
(1856-
1943) is Serbian-
Serbian-
American scientist,
scientist,
inventor, and electro
i t d l t
and mechanical
engineer who
provided mankind
with a large number
of significant
f i ifi t
discoveries and
inventions

3. Man Ahead of His Time
Tesla is most famous for conceiving the rotating
magnetic field principle (1882) and then using it to
invent the induction motor together with the
accompanying alternating current long-distance
long-
electrical transmission system (
y (1888).
)
His patents and theoretical work still form the basis
for modern alternating current electric power (AC)
systems including the polyphase power distribution
system.

4. Man Ahead of His Time
Tesla was so far ahead of his time
that many of his ideas are only
appearing today.
His legacy can be seen in
everything from the invention of the
induction motor, long-distance
long-
electrical power distribution, Tesla
coil and high-frequency electricity
high-
that led to the creation of neon and
fluorescent lighting, basics of radio
technology, remote control,
wireless communication, lasers, the
facsimile machine and hundreds of
other devices that are now an
esse t a part of our everyday es
essential pa t o ou e e yday lives.
His inventions through the
ingenuity of their solutions,
universality of application, and
breakthroughs in many fields of
technology and science, have
changed the world around us.

5. Nikola Tesla at the World Fair
in Chicago in 1893
The Chicago World Exhibition, marking the 400th anniversary of the
Christopher Columbus’s discovery of America, for which reason it
was called “Columbus’s exhibition”, opened on May 1, 1893
“Columbus’s exhibition”,
A new city was built for the Chicago
World s
World's Fair, announced as “The
The
World of Tomorrow”, with a complex
of buildings and parks. A specially
constructed machine hall contained
12 of Tesla s two-phase generators,
Tesla's two phase
1,000 horsepower each, working at a
frequency of 60 Hz. The generators
produced electricity for the
operation of devices and for electric
lighting at the fair.
This was the opportunity to spectacularly apply Tesla’s polyphase
system i practice, when W ti h
t in ti h Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing
El t i dM f t i
Company was contracted to provide electric power necessary for
machines and electrical lighting of the World Exhibition, using
Tesla’s system.

6. Tesla's Egg of Columbus
at the World Fair in Chicago
Tesla demonstrated a
number of solutions for
b f l ti f
polyphase motor
construction. One of the
solutions was a motor with
an egg-shaped rotor, better
egg-
known as “Tesla’s Egg of
Columbus .
Columbus”. It was used to
demonstrate and explain
the operating principles of
the rotating magnetic field
and of the induction motor.
d f th i d ti t
“Tesla's Egg of Columbus”
performed the famous feat
of Columbus with a copper
egg in a rotating magnetic
field.

7. Joint venture between Nikola Tesla
and George Westinghouse
For six months, 25 million
visitors could appreciate the
latest scientific achievements
of that time. This was a
p j
triumph of a joint venture
between Nikola Tesla and the
businessman George
Westinghouse, as well as an
ffi ti f th b fit f
affirmation of the benefits of
using polyphase alternating
current.
This event meant the end of
the “War of Currents”
between Tomas Edison’s DC
and Nikola Tesla AC concept
concept,
which marked the nineteenth
century.

8. First polyphase hydroelectric
power plant in the world
Chicago World Exhibition contributed
to the selection of Tesla s polyphase
Tesla’s
system for the first commercial
polyphase AC hydroelectric power
plant in the world at the Niagara Falls,
Falls
which was put into operation in 1896.

9. First polyphase hydroelectric
power plant in the world
po er orld
"The evolution of electric power from the discovery of Faraday
in 1831 to the initial great installation of the Tesla polyphase
system in 1896 is undoubtedly the most tremendous event in all
engineering history
history"
-Dr. Charles F. Scott, Professor of Electrical Engineering at Yale
University and former President of the American Institute of Electrical
Engineers

10. Tesla Coil / Tesla Transformer
A Tesla coil is a type of resonant transformer circuit
invented by Nikola Tesla around 1891. It is used to
produce high voltage and high frequency alternating
current electricity
Tesla used these coils to conduct
innovative experiments in:
electrical lighting
p
phosphorescence x-ray g
p x- y generation
high frequency alternating current
phenomena
electrotherapy
transmission of electrical energy without
t i i f l ti l ith t
wires
Tesla coil circuits were used commercially in
sparkgap radio transmitters for wireless
p g p
telegraphy until the 1920s, and in
electrotherapy and pseudomedical devices
such as violet ray.

11. Tesla Coil in popular culture
Today Tesla coils are often used by hobbyists and at
venues such as science museums to produce long
sparks. Their main use is entertainment and educational
displays.

12. Tesla Coil in popular culture
p p
Tesla coils are built by
many high-voltage
y high-
g g
enthusiasts, research
institutions, science
museums and
independent
experimenters like
Bunbury’s Dr Peter
Terren allias “Dr
Electric
Electric”

13. Tesla Coil in films
Tesla coils are popular
devices in films and
computer games, and
were used to produce
lightning effects in
some famous movies
like: Terminator 2, Star
Trek, Highlander, The X-
X-
Files and many others
The newest one is The
Apprentice,
Sorcerer's Apprentice,
pp
fantasy adventure film
produced in 2010 by
Walt Disney production

14. Remote control
of a moving vehicle
In 1898 on the first
1898,
Exhibition of electrical
devices at the Madison
Square G d in New
S Garden i N
York, Tesla was first to
p
present to the public the
p
implementation of radio
waves for transmission
of commands, by
commands
remotely controlling a
small vessel using radio
waves

15. Tesla's remote-controlled boat
remote-
The vehicle was remotely
controlled by Tesla using
several resonating
frequencies.
frequencies.
The remote-controlled
remote-
boat also contained the
first AC logic gate.
gate.
This was the first pioneering step towards
the world of wireless technologies
g
that we inhabit today