BBC - Tesla Documentary (1982) CasTaN.mpg

Nikola Tesla (Serbian Cyrillic: Никола Тесла; 10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) was a
Serbian American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and futurist
best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC)
electricity supply system.

Tesla gained experience in telephony and electrical engineering before immigrating to
the United States in 1884 to work for Thomas Edison in New York City. He soon struck
out on his own with financial backers, setting up laboratories and companies to develop
a range of electrical devices. His patented AC induction motor and transformer were
licensed by George Westinghouse, who also hired Tesla for a short time as a consultant.
His work in the formative years of electric power development was also involved in the
corporate struggle between making alternating current or direct current the power
transmission standard, referred to as the war of currents. Tesla went on to pursue his
ideas of wireless lighting and electricity distribution in his high-voltage, high-
frequency power experiments in New York and Colorado Springs and made early (1893)
pronouncements on the possibility of wireless communication with his devices. He tried
to put these ideas to practical use in his ill-fated attempt at intercontinental wireless
transmission; his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project. In his lab he also conducted a
range of experiments with mechanical oscillator/generators, electrical discharge tubes,
and early X-ray imaging. He even built a wireless controlled boat which may have been the
first such device ever exhibited.
Tesla was renowned for his achievements and showmanship, eventually earning him a
reputation in popular culture as an archetypal "mad scientist." His patents earned him a
considerable amount of money, much of which was used to finance his own projects with
varying degrees of success. He lived most of his life in a series of New York hotels,
through his retirement. He died on 7 January 1943.

Tesla's work fell into relative obscurity after his death, but in 1960 the General
Conference on Weights and Measures named the SI unit of magnetic field strength the tesla
in his honor. Tesla has experienced a resurgence in interest in popular culture since the
1990s.

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