Nikola Tesla Is Born

Setting the scene

Nikola Tesla was born on July 10, 1856, in the village of Smiljan in the Austrian Empire (modern Croatia), son of an Orthodox priest and an inventive mother. He studied engineering in Graz and Prague before working in Budapest and Paris.

What happened

Tesla immigrated to the United States in 1884, briefly worked for Thomas Edison, then partnered with George Westinghouse to promote alternating current at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. He held hundreds of patents on motors, radio circuits, and wireless power ideas.

Why it still matters

Tesla died penniless in a New York hotel room in 1943, overshadowed in business by Edison but celebrated later as a visionary. Memorable detail: he claimed to visualize inventions fully in his mind before building them and reportedly worked in bursts with little sleep during creative periods.

Background

AC power and wireless dreams followed.