nicola tesla
...r herself commonly devising new and easier ways of doing common household chores, while his father was a skillful writer and poet. In his youth he studied in Croatia where he learned of the great Niagara Falls, and imagined great things that could come of it. Tesla became very passionate about mathematics and science, and went on to study engineering at the renowned Austrian Polytechnic School at Graz. It was here that Tesla saw the problems with current electronics, specifically the Direct Current motor. Later while living in Budapest, Tesla devised his idea for the Alternating Current motor, an advance in technology that would change the world. Tesla was employed by companies throughout Europe to improve their DC generation facilities, but was interested in gaining investor attention in his idea. Tesla decided to try his luck in America. He met with Thomas Edison who allegedly promised Tesla $50,000 if he could improve his DC generation plants. After successfully doing so, the shocked Edison claimed that the offer had only been made in jest and that the immigrant (Tesla) would appreciate the joke when he was a “full-fledged American.” Tesla was disgusted. Still looking for investors, Tesla invented a few things including an arc lamp, but to little or no profitability. Finally luck came Tesla’s way by the name of A.K. Brown of the Western Union Company. Tesla Quickly developed and patented a working model of AC power, the system used universally throughout the world today. More luck smiled on Tesla when a savvy industrialist named Westinghouse purchased Tesla’s AC patents for $60,000 and $2.50 per horse power of electrical capacity sold, but this only sparked the industrial war between Edison’s Direct Current and now Westinghouse’s Alternating Current. Edison launched his propaganda war against AC, claiming the extreme dangers of AC by such savage acts as electrocuting animals on stage with the Westinghouse generators. Despite this negative propaganda, the AC system was more cost effective and won the bid for the Chicago Worlds Fair in 1893. Over 100,000 incandescent bulbs lit up the fair using AC power, and afterwards Tesla’s AC became the power of choice for the American people. Tesla now turned to the dream of his youth, to harness the power of the great Niagara Falls. With the Westinghouse Company, investo...