Nikola Tesla, The Greatest Underrated Unknown Inventor of All Time

10 min readMar 15, 2021

8th Grade- Gold

2/23/2021

Nikola Tesla, The Greatest Underrated Unknown Inventor of All Time

“The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane.”

-Nikola Tesla

Have you ever met someone who cared more about others than fame, glory, and wealth? One who, could have had billions but instead gave it all up for his friend? That man, that person is someone who can think deeply and be quite, insane. Nikola Tesla. The man, who was so engrossed with the numbers 3, 6, and 9 that he is quoted to say that they were the key to the universe. I believe that Nikola Tesla is the greatest inventor of all time, and not the fourth-best. Also, Thomas Edison was a jerk.

Before I say anything on why Thomas Edison was a jerk, let me get up to that point. Nikola Tesla was born in 1856 to a priest and inventor in Smiljan, Croatia. He was one of five children, and it is said at the age of 7 Nikola started seeing apparitions after his brother was killed in a horse accident. Some sources say he even scared the horse in the first place, but that is neither here nor there based on the credibility of those sources. Nikola Tesla’s father was a Serbian-orthodox priest and writer. During these younger years, his father encouraged Tesla to join the priesthood, but Nikola would refuse. Nikola’s mother was a stay-at-home mother who would sometimes invent household appliances in the meantime. One of her inventions was a mechanical egg beater. Even though Nikola Tesla’s father was against being an engineer, after Nikola got Cholera his father agreed to send him to engineering school if he survived. Nikola Tesla had several near-death experiences, he survived and recovered with time.

Nikola Tesla studied math and physics at the Technical University of Graz and studied philosophy at the University of Prague. It is said he had very good grades and studied profusely. However, by the next two years, Tesla turned those grades around and started gambling, but with this, he also while on a walk had the idea of a brushless AC motor. Afterward, Nikola Tesla moved to Paris for a job repairing DC current. DC current is a direct current for electric charges which was invented by Thomas Edison. However, it is not a very good way and soon enough Nikola Tesla would invent a current of his own that was better. This was a short stint of a move, because two years later he would move to America.

Nikola Tesla arrived in New York in 1884. In New York, this is where Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison would meet. Before the fierce rivalry, Nikola Tesla worked for Thomas Edison as an engineer, and time and time again Nikola Tesla would impress Thomas. Soon after, Thomas Edison made a challenge for everyone to make an improved version of DC current, and the winner would get a lot of money. Nikola Tesla, with already an idea, spent several weeks getting his idea onto paper. When Tesla was done, he gave a presentation to Edison, and Edison, being the real jerk that he is, didn’t even look at the idea after persuasion and even then, and thought it wouldn’t work. Nikola soon quit after this.

Since Nikola Tesla was out of a job, he had to start digging ditches while he waited for one of his big dreams. To start his own electric company, and to be able to research AC currents. To research Alternating current (AC), and prove to everyone that he was not just a man, but a legend. A legend where even after his death, Nikola Tesla would be written down as one of the greatest inventors of all time. One who would be greater if not the same as people like Benjamen Franklin, the Wright Brothers, Leonardo Da Vinci, and definitely, definitely, greater than Thomas Edison. (I think he is) But to be to that level, Nikola Tesla needed to grab a shovel, and dig. Digging into the thought of achieving your dreams. And after digging for 2 dollars an hour, Nikola Tesla found backers for his research and for his company. So now, this is the part where this man becomes a legend.

With his newfound power, Nikola Tesla got 30 patents in only one year and got admitted to giving a lecture at the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. This institute was just an 1880’s TED Talk for electrical engineers, and looking back this was king of another turning point for Tesla, because this lecture was the lecture where he met George Westinghouse. Nikola and George teaming up were at first very good for Tesla. He got his own lab, and Thomas Edison became worried about his business. So worried in fact, he planned something. Something that would prove that electricity was dangerous, that AC electricity was dangerous. (Also soon he meets Mark Twain)

The stunt that Thomas Edison is something that shocked the world. And, that shocked a man so much, he died. That man was William Kemmler, and he was the first person ever to be executed by the electric chair. This electric chair was made with AC currents, but it was made by Thomas Edison to prove how dangerous his competition was dealing with. Jerk. Move. Because later on in 1903 in another campaign against Westinghouse and Tesla, they killed Topsy the elephant, who had killed someone. Edison’s supporters also killed many dogs, cats, calves, and a horse. Thinking about it, those supporters stuck to Edison’s side no matter what. Tell me that ain’t loyal.

After the Kemmler incident, Westinghouse was suffering a little, so Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse needed to renegotiate their deal. Instead, Nikola tesla ripped up the contract that would pay him just for his friend, and to save the company. In today’s money, Nikola Tesla gave up several million dollars for his friend. This is what sets Tesla apart from Edison. Thomas Edison cared about money over his friends, which were really just his workers. Nikola Tesla cared about friendship and cared very little about achieving wealth. He just wanted to achieve his dream of making the plans of his inventions come true. Also, even though he gave up his royalties and contract, he did get a bigger lab, and this is where Nikola Tesla would do some of his best inventions.

In 1891, Nikola Tesla was finally able to install his AC power system and replaced an expensive coal power system that was somewhat old. This was the first time Nikola Tesla was able to install his power system, and even though it was in a Colorado building center for mines, it was a start. In his new lab, he also met Mark Twain, and he photographed the first picture with fluorescent light. In that same year, some sources say he discovered electrons during his experiments, but later on, he would make more experiments trying to prove that small charged particles exist, and they are everywhere.

After Tesla’s mother died of old age, Nikola became ill himself. This is because, for one thing, his mother was his inspiration, the person who got him into making inventions. With all those emotions, no wonder he fell ill. Also, right before he visited his mother he was on a lecture tour in London and Paris so he might have caught something there too. After Tesla was better, he went on a lecture tour again and even met the king of Serbia. When Tesla returned home, (By now he was a US citizen) he elected vice president of the AIEE, which he would serve two years in.

Do you know how Niagra Falls has generators? Well, guess what type of generators they are. AC generators and Nikola Tesla’s power system that powered Niagra Falls ended the so-called “War of the Currents”. However sadly, that happiness would be short-lived. Nikola Tesla’s lab… it burned until there were ashes. Back then, an estimated 50,000 dollars of equipment were destroyed. However, I think there was way more they didn’t estimate. The future of electricity burned to the ground on that day. Tesla was devastated. He tried talking to the media, but in a New York Times quote he said, “I am in too much grief to talk. What can I say?” What could he say or do to make up for all of that work, all of that effort, to be just gone in just an instant, would be devastating. From my perspective, the was the climax. Near the end of the story, but at the beginning of a new recovery. Nikola Tesla would still recover, but in my opinion would not get to the point of that again, because all of those models, plans, and concepts were gone.

The same year as the fire, the generators at Niagra Fall did work, and no matter what until Tesla’s death he did invent. From Tesla coils to death rays, Nikola did it all. All. But the thing I am going to tell you about is one of the biggest failures he had. But I don’t like using the word failures. It wasn’t even his fault, because he ran out of funding and Nikola couldn’t do anything about that. Wardenclyffe Tower. Wardencylffe Tower was a wireless transmission station, and if it was complete it could have transmitted messages, and faxes. I am not entirely sure if it was fully built it would have worked, because all of the sites that have this topic presented are blocked. However, I have found a source that says “In principle, yes, you could in fact supply energy this way, but it would be a horribly, horribly inefficient way to do it.” So I can assure you that Nikola Tesla’s plan did have some design flaws to it, but still, it was a prototype, and Tesla definitely could have gotten it to work.

That wasn’t the only thing that was bad that happened. You see, Guglielmo Marconi won the Nobel Peace Prize for the radio, but Nikola Tesla was the one who made the patent, and that matter wouldn’t be resolved until after his death. And then, (Yes there is more tragedy) Mark Twain, a very close friend of Nikola, died of a heart attack. This was a huge strain on Tesla’s mental health because Mark Twain was one of Nikola Tesla’s best friends and they had been friends for several years, and he even took this famous photo: Famous Photo. Also, his greatest investor, John Jacob Astor, died in the Titanic, so then his funding was cut even more.

However, in all that tragedy Nikola Tesla did move to an office near Bryant Park, which was where he made friends with all of New York’s pigeons. Sure he had to sell the plot of land and the tower for scrap, but Nikola had a passion for pigeons, and it made him happy, even though after his move he declared bankruptcy. Then Nikola received the Edison Medal, which was AIEE’s highest award, and in the middle of the introduction, Tesla vanished and was found at a local library feeding his pigeons. I mean, that is kind of cool. He did come back to the award’s show, and later that year he would get a lot of recognition as he talked about how radar could work. However, in 1922 tragedy struck and struck hard. Nikola Tesla’s favorite pigeon, came to Nikola Tesla’s hotel room one night (He moved to St. Regis a few years before) to tell him that she was dying. The pigeon reportedly had a light that came from her eyes that was so powerful, Nikola had never seen anything like it before. At that same moment, the pigeon died. And at that same moment, a piece of his own heart exited his own soul. He knew that his life’s work, all of his inventions, were all behind him. He had to move on. Slow it down. Take life in, and maybe get a better sleeping schedule. (2 hours a day) Nikola said, “I loved that pigeon like as a man loves a woman, she loved me.” It is true, he never married, because he was married to science and his inventions. After moving to hotel after hotel and receiving three honorary degrees, it was time for Nikola Tesla’s 75th birthday. He got many letters of congratulations, one from Albert Einstein. Ten days after his birthday, he got on the cover of TIME magazine. A few years later he made a death ray. He was 78. Wow. Then, in 1937 Nikola Tesla, while he was crossing the street to go and feed pigeons, got hit by a taxi cab. No one really knows the extent of his injuries, but it was definitely at least bruising. A few years later, he was visited by King Peter the second. From the photos, I can see that Nikola Tesla was an old and tired man. That basis seems to be true, because next year on January 7th, 1943 at an estimated 10:30 p.m, Nikola Tesla, the greatest inventor, lover of pigeons, and someone who many people, including me, look up to, passed away from coronary thrombosis. (A blood clot inside of the heart) He was 86, and was very near to finishing his death ray, which would shoot out plasma. However, the plans he wrote down for it was seized by the government and have never seen the light of day ever since. Then, right after his death, the U.S. Office of Alien Property seized all of his belongings, because some people were convinced that he was an alien from Venus because of his accent. (Think of Elon Musk’s accent, but more formal) Over 2,200 people attended Nikola Tesla’s funeral, and his eulogy was said by the New York City mayor, over the radio. Speaking of radios, months after death, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Nikola Tesla was the “father of radio”, and not Marconi. Also, the U.S Navy named a ship after Nikola Tesla because Nikola Tesla once made a remote-controlled boat, so it seemed a little fitting.

This is not the end of Nikola Tesla’s story. After his death, there was a museum in Serbia made that detailed his life. In 1975, Nikola Tesla was inducted into the Inventor Hall of Fame, and the IEEE created an award after him, and every year someone would be given the award if they made innovating benefaction to electric power. One of the biggest honors of Nikola Tesla that he received after his death was the company Tesla Inc. Tesla is an electric car company that innovated the car market industry. Nikola Tesla would be very proud to have this company named after him because innovating electricity was what he would do for all of his life. Elon Musk, the co-founder and CEO, continues to honor Tesla by making advancements such as making energy-efficient cars with no gas.

How do you think the impact Nikola Tesla made back then affects us today? Wifi, Bluetooth, and remote control toys are all examples of things Nikola Tesla is almost like the godfather of. Nikola Tesla is the greatest inventor of all time, and could have done a lot more if he just was able to fund all of his ideas. Nikola Tesla innovated the future, and will forever be remembered as ahead of his time.

Written by will