If you could go back in time, and meet just one historical figure, who would you meet? I would meet Nikola Tesla. Most of you reading this, probably haven’t heard of him, or if you have, he’s just one of those names you hear about, but really know nothing about. I think when I say, Tesla coil, that might ring a bell? Tesla in fact, invented more things, than the not so great Thomas Edison. In fact, Edison and Tesla, were at one time friends, who eventually became rivals. It all started with electricity. Tesla had just come from Russia, to help with Edison and his DC electric motors. However, Tesla wanted to work with AC power saying it was much better than DC. Well for those of you that don’t know much about electricity, AC power, is the power that is used in every single household in the country! DC power is the battery in your car. So as you can see, Tesla won the big battle.
However, you never hear about Tesla, all you hear about is Edison…….Why? Because Tesla was capable of so much more than just AC power. In the late 19th Century, Tesla began experimenting with producing wireless electricity. He was able to light up light bulbs miles away from its source, while still holding it in his hand. Infact, his experiments in Colorado Springs, scared many residents of the town, when bolts of lightning would randomly shoot up and hit metallic objects. Man made lightning bolts would also shoot across the sky in an extravagant light show display. Still known today, as the greatest man made lightning storm ever. After sorting out all the kinks, Tesla was ready to build the greatest invention of all time.
Wardenclyffe Tower:
You are looking at, the internet, 100 years before its time. Wardenclyffe Tower was capable, of not only sending wireless electricity around the world, but it was also capable of sending images, text messages, and radio frequencies. Sound familiar? Well this tower was being built in 1901. Tesla had a vision of free power for everyone. Because of this, JP Morgan, who was funding the project, pulled funding, and the tower was never completed.
The greatest invention of all time, and it was stopped, because of money.
Why is it the greatest invention of all time you ask? Because if Wardenclyffe tower existed today. The world would not be dependent on oil. We would not have a need to burn fossil fuels, as all vehicles would be powered wirelessly, no matter where they were! And it would also have been free! Can you imagine a world where we all had free power? The entire monetary system itself, would be pointless. The world as we know it today, would have much fewer problems. This would have been a paradigm shift on a major scale. Ashame.
The Radio:
Tesla not only knew how to transmit radio waves, he actually invented the radio to be able to do so. Many of you will argue that it was Guglielmo Marconi. You are wrong, Marconi simply developed on Tesla’s ideas and claimed it was all him. Tesla took him to court, and eventually won the battle, and was credited as the real inventor. However, the damage had already been done, and Tesla, once again, never got recognition for his amazing inventions.
Later in life, Tesla developed many more incredible inventions. He knew that humans are made up of electricity. He developed an electro-therapy device which would help in healing various illness from the body. He also worked for the government in world war one, developing defense weapons using electricity. He also invented wireless remote control cars, and boats. There are countless things that Tesla invented, most unpatented. This blog post, does not give him justice, and I’m sure in future posts, I will mention many more things he invented.
The Man:
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So after doing much research on Tesla, I was curious about how someone could do so much. I discovered a few surprising things along the way. He was born with a photographic memory. One where, he could build his inventions in his mind, before even having to write anything down! He could tell just by the design in his head, whether it would work or not! He never bothered doing an experiment until he knew how it would work. He also didn’t like to write things down, and many of his inventions never were recorded. He had very few notes, and preferred to keep it all in his head. Whatever notes he did have, were either taken away by the U.S government when he died, or they were destroyed in the fire that burned his apartment the day after his death. Tesla never did his inventions for money, and often gave his money away. He made his first million before the age of 40, but he died in an apartment, alone and poor in 1943. However, I knew that just having a photographic memory wasn’t enough to invent all these incredible things, so I dug deeper. I discovered that Tesla, went through his entire life, celibate. Many women wanted him, and he was quite the showman when doing his experiments in public. So popularity wasn’t a problem. He was celibate because he claimed his celibacy gave him his creativity. That it inspired him, and added significantly to his creativity. At first, I didn’t understand how that was even possible. But upon further research, I found that Tesla was not the only one that practiced this. Many other historical figures knew this, and used it. Then I tried it for myself, which I will tell you about in a later blog post, so stay tuned!
Thanks for reading as always!