Nikola Tesla Facts
Nikola Tesla is one of the most prolific scientists and inventors in all of history and certainly deserving of the title “The Man who Invented the 20th Century.” Here are some surprising, heartbreaking and fascinating facts about one of the greatest inventors of all time!
1) Tesla was, in fact, born during a lightning storm on July 10th, 1856.
2) Tesla imagined wireless internet and mobile phones before anyone else had even conceived of this now ubiquitous technology.
3) Nikola Tesla, almost penniless, immigrated to the United States in 1894 to work under Thomas Edison who would later become his rival.
4) Like many famous scientists, he never married. He was, however, a snappy dresser and attracted the ladies with his deep-set eyes and six-foot-two slender frame.
5) He invented the Tesla coil which is still the basis for all wireless technology used today.
6) The inspiration behind Tesla’s fascination with electricity is mother, Djuka Mandic. She invented small electrical appliances as a hobby.
7) He has over 275 patents in 26 countries. Explore them at this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nikola_Tesla_patents.
8) Nikola Tesla Day is celebrated by many states on his birthday: July 10th.
9) Tesla’s first invention was a voice amplifier for the telephone.
10) Tesla invented the first hydroelectric plant in the United States at Niagara Falls to power the city of Buffalo, New York.
11) One of Tesla’s top ambitions was to provide free electricity to help humanity.
12) He had a photographic memory capable of recalling stockpiles of images, particularly in imagining and visualizing in three dimensions.
13) The reason is unknown, but Tesla absolutely detested pearls. He once sent home a secretary for wearing them to work.
14) Tesla could speak eight languages: Serbo-Croatian, Czech, German, Hungarian, French, English, Italian and Latin.
15) He died poor and alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel on January 7th, 1943.
“My brain is only a receiver, in the Universe there is a core from which we obtain knowledge, strength and inspiration. I have not penetrated into the secrets of this core, but I know that it exists.”
— Nikola Tesla