2. If you couldn’t imagine life without your TV remote,
thank Nikola Tesla for making it possible. Tesla invented,
predicted or contributed to development of hundreds of
technologies that play big parts in our daily lives -- like
the remote control, neon and fluorescent lights, wireless
transmission, computers, smartphones, laser beams,
x-rays, robotics and, of course, alternating current, the
basis of our present-day electrical system.
3. Innovation runs in Tesla’s blood. Tesla once wrote:
“My mother was an inventor of the first order and
would, I believe, have achieved great things had she
not been so remote from modern life and its multi fold
opportunities. She invented and constructed all kinds
of tools and devices and wove the finest designs from
thread which was spun by her.” He credited both his
parents’ influence for his success.
4. Tesla lived in New York City for 60 years, and remnants
of his time there still remain. The corner of 40th Street
and 6th Avenue in downtown Manhattan has been
designated “Nikola Tesla Corner” -- with its own street
sign -- because of its proximity to Tesla’s laboratory at
8 West 40th Street, where he worked in 1900 while
building his now-infamous Tesla Tower on Long Island.
At nearby Bryant Park Place, a plaque commemorates
the Engineer’s Club, which awarded Tesla the Edison
Medal on May 18, 1917. During his later years, Tesla fed
pigeons in nearby Bryant Park.
6. During the war of the currents, alternating current
(AC) -- favored by Tesla -- battled for wide acceptance
with direct current (DC), favored by Edison. At stake
was the basis for the entire nation’s electrical system.
Edison launched a campaign against AC, claiming it was
dangerous and could kill people; Tesla countered by
publicly subjecting himself to 250,000-volt shocks to
demonstrate AC’s safety. Ultimately, alternating current
won the fight.
PHYSICS
DEPARTMENT
5. Tesla received his U.S. citizenship in 1891, the same
year he invented the Tesla coil. Tesla coils are a type
of electrical circuit used to generate low-current, highvoltage
electricity. Today, they’re widely used in radios,
televisions and other electronics, and can be used for
wireless transmission. A coil at Tesla’s experimental
station in Colorado Springs, Colorado, created 30-foot
sparks that could be seen from 10 miles away.
7. Tesla designed the first hydroelectric power plant
in Niagara Falls, New York, harnessing the power of
the waterfalls he had marveled at since childhood.
Construction took three years and power first flowed to
homes in nearby Buffalo on Nov. 16, 1896. A statue of
Tesla on Goat Island overlooks the falls today.
8. “Teslas,” a unit used to measure the strength
of magnetic fields, are named after Tesla. Another
namesake is Tesla Motors, the electric car start-up, in
homage to Tesla’s role in the invention of the electric
motor.
9. In 1901, Tesla received financial backing from J.
Pierpont Morgan to build his Wardenclyffe laboratory
in Shoreham, Long Island. The facility included the
“Tesla Tower,” a 185-foot high structure with a 65-foot
copper dome transmitter on the top. Tesla’s vision was
to use the tower to transmit signals and free, unlimited
wireless electricity all over the world. Thanks to Tesla’s
early work, wireless transfer of energy is finally being
realized today -- from wireless chargers for electric
toothbrushes and smartphones, to wireless electric
vehicle charging, a technology being researched at the
Energy Department’s National Labs.
THE CLAPPER 2016 - 2017 41