T
esla was born in 1856 in Smiljan, a village within the Austrian Empire. The area is now part of modern day Croatia. His maternal grandfather was a Serbian Orthodox priest who had a knack of crafting tools and mechanical appliances, a knack that no doubt translated to young Nikola. He had a gift of photographic memory, and was able to compute integral calculus in his head which led to his teachers to believe he was cheating. Whilst attending Austrian Polytechnic in Graz, Austria, Tesla was a star student during his first year by achieving the highest marks possible in more papers than was necessary. The second year was less auspicious as he came into conflict with one of his lecturers that indirectly caused Tesla to lose his scholarship. To further complicate matters, he became a problem gambler and lost his allowance and tuition money during his third year. Though he was able to win back what he had lost, he never graduated. After spending years drifting from job to job, Tesla was employed at the Continental Edison Company in France, designing original equipment as well as improving existing machinery. In 1884 he immigrated to the US, and was hired by Edison to work in Edison Machine Works. Tesla saw many improvements that could be made, and Edison offered $50,000 (equivalent to $1.2 million today) to Tesla if he could improve the direct current motor generator. Though Tesla was successful in making