Nikola Tesla remains one of the most mystical and dramatic figures of engineering. His discoveries to a large extent shaped the power of technology which changed the world in the 20th century. Tesla’s thoughts and ideas laid the background of industrial revolution and it would not be an exaggeration to state that Tesla was the Superman of engineering in the previous century. What is more impressive, Tesla’s papers and records contained more discoveries, some of them are not fully understood or utilized yet.
The life story of Nikola Tesla is very dramatic and full of controversies and struggle. Many of Tesla’s discoveries and achievements were only recognized after his death. During his 86 years of life, Tesla made important contributions to…show more content… Tesla received fundamental technical education in the polytechnic school of Graz, and then received a degree in Prague University (Martin 19). The first job of Tesla was the position of an electrical engineer in a telephone company, located in Budapest; later on, he moved to Paris to work for a branch of Edison company. In these years, Tesla made his first discovery – induction motor powered by alternating current and was actually trying to attract investors. However, the investors in Europe were reluctant to support his idea, and in 1884 Tesla made a decision to move to America (Martin 44).
Tesla’s first major discovery was the rotating magnetic field. This field allowed to use the alternating current instead of the direct current, which was widely used at the end of the 1880s (Colladay 58). During two years Tesla was working on the refutation of his professor’s statement that it was not possible to create a motor powered not by direct, but by alternating current. The scientists of that time believed it was impossible; however, in 1882 Tesla discovered that rotating magnetic field would allow running an engine using the alternating current (and without converting it to direct current) (Colladay…show more content… This discovery was based on the important principle also discovered by Tesla – polyphase alternating currents. Polyphase system denotes a method of electrical power distribution where at least three conductors with alternating currents are used to transmit the power (Cheney 124). The advantage of the polyphase system is that it is more efficient with regard to the wire requirements, costs, and effectiveness of power transmission. Currently, the transmission of electricity to long distances and effective electric motors exist due to Tesla’s discovery of polyphase alternating currents. Using this idea, Tesla in 1890 created a high-voltage transformer, which significantly impressed both scientists and the general public (Cheney 138).
Overall, Tesla applied for more than 300 patients worldwide (Bergstresser 43). Many of his discoveries were not patented because he believed that knowledge should be universal and should be shared among all people. The goal of this paper is to research the life and discoveries of Nikola Tesla, outline his key discoveries, discuss disputed discoveries and patents assigned to other people, and to consider the theories and papers which were not yet adopted by the scientific