The Greatest Inventor Ever: Have You Heard of Him?

 

When we think of history's great inventors, particularly during the 70 years between 1870-1940, we usually mention Thomas Edison (phonograph, light bulb, movie camera, etc.), Alexander Graham Bell (telephone), Guglielmo Marconi (radio), and a few others. However, there was one inventor who had a hand in almost every significant invention during this time period, as well as others that are still being enhanced during the 21st century. Many of you have never heard of him; others find the name familiar, but cannot name anything that he has done.

Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla was an ethnic Serb born in present-day Croatia who emigrated to the U.S. in 1884 at the age of 28. He came to work for Thomas Edison, but left after about a year, because Edison would not give him a raise from $18/week to $25/week. Let's review his wondrous accomplishments. 

AC Electric Current

Thomas Edison was a major proponent of delivering electricity via Direct Current (DC). Tesla, on the other hand, led the movement toward using Alternating Current (AC) instead, producing over 40 patents in the field. Without going into the differences of the two systems, AC power  ultimately was deemed the better system, and it's what the world uses today for power delivery. When you plug in your computer to read this blog, it is running on AC electric power. 

Electric Motor

One of the major drawbacks in gaining acceptance of AC power was that motors only ran on DC power. So, in 1887, Tesla developed the first practical AC electric motor. This is the same basic design that is used in today's latest electric cars.

Electric Ignition System

In 1898, Tesla obtained a patent for an "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines." This effectively was a mechanical ignition system for internal combustion gasoline engines. When you turn your car key and the engine starts -- Tesla helped you do that.

Radio

Guglielmo Marconi is generally credited with inventing the radio, which he first demonstrated over distance in 1895. However, Tesla had already been working on radio concepts for years, even providing a demonstration of radio communication in 1893. When Marconi finally built a radio system that could transmit and receive across the Atlantic Ocean, he apparently used 17 of Tesla's patents. Tesla sued Marconi, and in 1943, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Tesla's favor, reversing any claims by Marconi. By then, Marconi had already been established as the inventor of radio. Marconi received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1909.

X-Rays

In 1895, Wilhelm Röntgen announced the discovery of X-Rays, and first saw images of bones through skin. However, in 1887, Tesla had already been experimenting with X-Rays by means of a new vacuum tube he had devised. By 1892, he not only noted damage to his skin as a result of these experiments, but he also had taken images of his bones (later reportedly sending them to Röntgen). Tesla even published  a paper in 1894 that described the emissions of "visible and invisible waves," but most of his paperwork was destroyed in a fire in the same year that Röntgen's discovery was made public. Röntgen won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1901.

Radar

Effective radar systems were not developed until the late 1930's. However, Tesla had been carrying out experiments related to radar decades earlier. In fact, as early as 1917, Tesla described how electromagnetic waves can be used "to determine the relative position or course of a moving object, such as a vessel at sea, the distance traversed by the same, or its speed."

Wireless Lightbulb, 1919

Fluorescent Lights

Although Edison received a patent for a fluorescent light in 1907... as early as the 1893 World's Fair, Tesla publicly demonstrated wireless fluorescent lamps that glowed brightly even though their energy source was about 10 feet away.

Wireless Remote Control

Remote-Control Boat, 1898

Speaking of a distant energy source, how could we stand to watch TV these days without our remote controls? What about those pilotless drones flying over enemy territory -- isn't it handy that we can control them from a far-away distance? Tesla was the first to seriously theorize about sending signals through the air without any physical connections, and was the first to demonstrate the practice. In 1898, the received a patent for "Method of an Apparatus for Controlling Mechanism of Moving Vehicle or Vehicles," and he publicly demonstrated a radio-controlled boat.

Loudspeaker

While Alexander Graham Bell is credited with inventing the telephone in 1876, and it included an audio transducer (a device to reproduce sound via electric current), Tesla had been working on audio devices for years. In 1881, he had created what might have been the first electromagnetic loudspeaker (the basic system used today for audio loudspeakers) for the Budapest telephone system. He had not applied for a patent, and the device was not publicized because it was not produced for commercial sale.

Tesla Coil

Wardenclyffe Tower

Tesla also had visions of sending power from energy transmission stations to receivers over the air. In 1891, he invented the Tesla Coil (appropriately named), which can generate millions of volts of electricity, but at a low enough current to be fairly safe. Tesla theorized that building large Tesla Coils, and spreading them around the country, electricity could be sent over the air throughout the country without the use of any wires or cables. Electric devices would not need plugs, and houses would not need outlets in the walls. Electric cars would never need to recharge, obtaining the electric energy through the air at all times.

With the financial support of J.P. Morgan, Tesla built the largest Tesla Coil ever, the 187-ft. Wardenclyffe Tower, which also had iron roots going 300 feet into the ground below. The tower was going to demonstrate the feasibility of transmitting wireless energy over distance. In earlier experiments, he apparently had lit fluorescent bulbs over a mile away from its energy source. However, when Morgan realized that there was no way to regulate the use of this energy (therefore, no way to profit from this process), funding was halted and the project was never completed.

Today, you probably know about Tesla Coils from the time your science teacher made your buddy's hair pop out like a 70's afro cut. Good times.

Airplanes

Ok, I don't have any data that Tesla invented the airplane before the Wright brothers' flight in 1903. However, one of his last patents, in 1928, describes an ingenious lightweight flying machine that resembles today's tilt-rotor Vertical Short Takeoff and Landing (VSTOL) planes. He called his invention the "Flivver," not to be confused with "Flubber," which is a different invention that also resulted in a flying machine of sorts (look it up). Even before the 1920's, he had described the creation of "flying machines" that used electromagnetism for power that would enable flight without propellers or even wings.

Flubber-Powered Motorcar, circa 1961

Nikola Tesla had his hand in many other fields as well, and even today his papers are being reviewed for ideas that were misunderstood because they were decades ahead of their time. For instance, at the beginning of World War I, he proposed a "death-ray" device that "will send concentrated beams of particles through the free air, of such tremendous energy that they will bring down a fleet of 10,000 enemy airplanes at a distance of 250 miles from the defending nation's border and will cause armies of millions to drop dead in their tracks." He also had plans for a device that would disable or destroy submarines from great distances by using high-frequency waves. Yet, even though most of us are well aware of the names and achievements of Edison, Bell, Marconi, and the Wright Brothers, one man who had a significant hand in all their fields has somehow slipped through our collective historical memory, except for our recollection of a Tesla coil parlor trick during our high school science class.

Tesla's Death-Ray and Submarine Destroyer, 1916-17