Nikola Tesla (6/10/1856 ? 1/7/1943), a genius Serbian inventor was born in Smiljan in today's Croatia. He surely was not just an inventor but also a great physicist and electro-mechanical engineer.
While working in Budapest an idea that enabled most of the activities of the modern electrified world came across his mind. The idea was the alternating current (AC) generator.
Tesla emigrated to the US in 1884 because he?d thought the only person that would have brought his idea to live was Thomas Alva Edison. Unfortunately, for Tesla Edison had already made a great success with his direct current electricity system. Edison employed Tesla but was intentionally refusing the AC current.
Did Tesla leave Edison?s company (nowadays General Electric btw.) and started working on his own. He luckily joined forces with George Westinghouse who was financing his projects. This was the beginning of the war between Edison and Tesla or if you like the flashy name War Of Currents. During this war, Edison was able to kill horses and elephants by AC in public just to prove how dangerous this type of current can be.
To keep it short there are 2 major advantages of the alternating current. For those who do not know the difference between the currents. The direct current ?flows? in the wire in one direction. The alternating one changes it?s direction many times (usually 60) per second. So the electrons that do the work don?t have to travel o long distance to the generator.
Back to the advantages. The first advantage of AC is that you need just a tiny cable to electrify a block of houses, the DC one needs a wire like your arm in diameter for the same purpose. The second one is even more interesting. There is a big problem to keep the voltage in the DC system. If you want the DC to work on a long distance between the power plant and e.g. your house you need to build a special station on every mile of the distance to amplify the voltage. AC does not need any amplifiers. It can sustain the voltage even on a long distance.
The most important battle in the \War Of Currents was won in 1893 when Westinghouse won the tender to light the World?s Columbian Exhibition in Chicago. The success was huge because the price was 50% lower than the Edison's lowest offer and people saw for the first time in their life a complex of buildings in the shine of AC electricity light.
Tesla?s life dream was to tame the energy of Niagara Falls. He fulfilled this with Westinghouse using the very same system. The Buffalo City became the first long distance electrified city in the world. Tesla said: ?George Westinghouse was, in my opinion, the only man on this globe who could take my alternating-current system under the circumstances then existing and win the battle against prejudice and money power. He was one of the world?s true noblemen, of whom America may well be proud and to whom humanity owes an immense debt of gratitude.?
After this great success Tesla decided to pursue his another ideas how to use electric power. His work led to many invents that we can no longer imagine our life without like wireless broadcasting or remote controlling.
Tesla was one of few people who realized that the electric energy is omnipresent. He knew that unchaining and controlling of this energy is a direct way to an overwhelming prosperity of mankind. His long-life goal was to enable a global wireless distribution of electricity. He was able to achieve it using his famous inductors in the short distance. The global distribution remained undisclosed.
After his death in 1943 a big part of his documentation disappeared.This fact lead to many conspiracy theories. Some of them are unfortunately still alive.
While working in Budapest an idea that enabled most of the activities of the modern electrified world came across his mind. The idea was the alternating current (AC) generator.
Tesla emigrated to the US in 1884 because he?d thought the only person that would have brought his idea to live was Thomas Alva Edison. Unfortunately, for Tesla Edison had already made a great success with his direct current electricity system. Edison employed Tesla but was intentionally refusing the AC current.
Did Tesla leave Edison?s company (nowadays General Electric btw.) and started working on his own. He luckily joined forces with George Westinghouse who was financing his projects. This was the beginning of the war between Edison and Tesla or if you like the flashy name War Of Currents. During this war, Edison was able to kill horses and elephants by AC in public just to prove how dangerous this type of current can be.
To keep it short there are 2 major advantages of the alternating current. For those who do not know the difference between the currents. The direct current ?flows? in the wire in one direction. The alternating one changes it?s direction many times (usually 60) per second. So the electrons that do the work don?t have to travel o long distance to the generator.
Back to the advantages. The first advantage of AC is that you need just a tiny cable to electrify a block of houses, the DC one needs a wire like your arm in diameter for the same purpose. The second one is even more interesting. There is a big problem to keep the voltage in the DC system. If you want the DC to work on a long distance between the power plant and e.g. your house you need to build a special station on every mile of the distance to amplify the voltage. AC does not need any amplifiers. It can sustain the voltage even on a long distance.
The most important battle in the \War Of Currents was won in 1893 when Westinghouse won the tender to light the World?s Columbian Exhibition in Chicago. The success was huge because the price was 50% lower than the Edison's lowest offer and people saw for the first time in their life a complex of buildings in the shine of AC electricity light.
Tesla?s life dream was to tame the energy of Niagara Falls. He fulfilled this with Westinghouse using the very same system. The Buffalo City became the first long distance electrified city in the world. Tesla said: ?George Westinghouse was, in my opinion, the only man on this globe who could take my alternating-current system under the circumstances then existing and win the battle against prejudice and money power. He was one of the world?s true noblemen, of whom America may well be proud and to whom humanity owes an immense debt of gratitude.?
After this great success Tesla decided to pursue his another ideas how to use electric power. His work led to many invents that we can no longer imagine our life without like wireless broadcasting or remote controlling.
Tesla was one of few people who realized that the electric energy is omnipresent. He knew that unchaining and controlling of this energy is a direct way to an overwhelming prosperity of mankind. His long-life goal was to enable a global wireless distribution of electricity. He was able to achieve it using his famous inductors in the short distance. The global distribution remained undisclosed.
After his death in 1943 a big part of his documentation disappeared.This fact lead to many conspiracy theories. Some of them are unfortunately still alive.
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