Imagine if you had the ability to create lightning. Would you use it to destroy? Would you use it for the good of humanity? Would you change your name to "Zeus"? One man did discover how to create lightning, his name is Nikola Tesla. In addition, he lead a very interesting life. From early childhood, to his career, to his personal life and his many quirks, Nikola Tesla was one of a kind.
Nikola Tesla was born in Smiljan, Austrian Empire (modern day Croatia). His father was a priest for the Serbian Orthodox church, and because his father was working his mother stayed at home took care of the farm. Tesla credited his love of inventing and memorization to his parents, who also loved creating inventions. Tesla had a brother and three sisters. From an early age Tesla's parents saw that he was very intelligent compared to his other siblings, so they made sure that he got a formal education. Tesla excelled in school. He did so well teachers often accused him of cheating. By the age of fourteen he was doing calculus in his head. After Tesla graduated high school, he traveled around to avoid going to war, and doing various odd jobs around Europe. The job that started off his career was working for a man named Thomas.
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He was trying to improve some of the inventions Edison had made. After a few years, Tesla moved to America to work for Edison. Edison promised him $50,000 ($1,250,000 in today's money) if he could improve Edison's method of transferring electricity. Nikola Tesla successfully improved the transfer of electricity by inventing alternating current, which we still use today. Thomas Edison went back on his word and didn't give Tesla any money. This encouraged Tesla to quit working for Edison, and to allow the whole world to use his inventions, instead of using them for personal