Nikola Tesla is the epitome of the term inventor. “Throughout his lifetime he patented over 700 inventions” (book 1). His technology is at the heart of almost every single electronic device we use today, and yet many people fail to understand just how influential and special Tesla really was. Here is a brief synopsis of Nikola Tesla’s life and his groundbreaking research, as well as my personal assessment of the importance of Tesla’s contributions as it relates to the four parts of creativity discussed in class. Tesla was born in 1856 in Gospić Croatia. His father was an Orthodox priest, and his mother was an inventor who, as Tesla himself states, “descended from one of the oldest families in the country and a line of inventors” (Tesla 2). …show more content…
While knocking on death’s door “he said to his father, “Perhaps I may get well if you will let me study engineering.“ His father replied “you will go to the best technical institution in the world,” and Tesla pulled through” (Cawthorne 15). His father kept his word and sent him to Joanneum Polytechnic in Graz, Austria. He would go on to study mathematics, experimental physics, and philosophy at Prague University, as well as travel to Budapest to assist Tivadar Puskás in building a telephone exchange. After Budapest, Tesla moved to Paris to take a job at Edison Works where “he learned a great deal about the practical business of building motors and generators” (Cawthorne 21). He worked closely with Edison and while he had the utmost admiration his work, the two great inventors were not very fond of one another. One quote from Tesla I found interesting was “Edison’s utter disregard of the most elementary rules of hygiene” (find it …show more content…
Maybe because of some scientists like Edison, downplayed the use of AC power saying, “AC was not worth the attention of practical men” (Cawthorne 36). Through an odd set of serendipitous circumstances, Tesla linked up with Alfred Brown and Charles Peck and formed the Tesla Electric Company in April of 1887. In his new lab Tesla built two full-sized motors exactly as he had imagined them on the beach saying, “I made no attempt to improve the design, but merely reproduce the pictures as they appeared to my vision and the operation was as I expected” (Tesla 34). Once a very influential man named George Westinghouse heard through the scientific community, of the potential of Tesla’s work with alternating current, the two put their heads together and developed the world’s first single-phase AC power transmission