Nikola Tesla – the unappreciated prophet

Chapter 36

Nikola Tesla – the unappreciated prophet

I wonder how different our world would be today if Nikola Tesla had been more successful of garnering the support of the “mainstream” industrialists of his day.

Just a bit of background from Wikipedia: “Nikola Tesla; 10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) was a Serbian American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, physicist, 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 involved in a corporate alternating current/direct currentWar of Currents” as well as various patent battles. 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.”

Tesla gained early support from financiers such as Westinghouse and J.P. Morgan as long as business profits were projected. However, when became known that he supported the free distribution of wireless electrical energy to the masses……..well that didn’t make good economic sense!

This genius had numerous patents (approximately 300!) and ideas that had practical application, but which were not pursued until long after his death.

From PBS News Hour; BY Rebecca Jacobson  July 10, 2013 at 6:02 PM EDT

“HE DEVELOPED THE IDEA FOR SMARTPHONE TECHNOLOGY IN 1901

Tesla may have had a brilliant mind, but he was not as good at reducing his ideas to practice, Carlson said. In the race to develop transatlantic radio, Tesla described to his funder and business partner, J.P. Morgan, a new means of instant communication that involved gathering stock quotes and telegram messages, funneling them to his laboratory, where he would encode them and assign them each a new frequency. That frequency would be broadcast to a device that would fit in your hand, he explained. In other words, Tesla had envisioned the smart phone and wireless internet, Carlson said, adding that of all of his ideas, that was the one that stopped him in his tracks.”

stay tuned next week for more on Tesla!