Nikola Tesla

A teenager kid standing on a dam near a village in Croatia, thinking to reach the other side of the dam. After making up his mind, he dives in but could barely breathe. He struggles and tries to reach the water surface. Meanwhile, his head collapses with a piece of wood, which turns out to be a savior, and he finds his way out.  Unfortunately, owing to much darkness, he fails to register anything in his sight. However, after battling with the water tides, when he is about to die, he sees a flashlight and there comes a moment of “epiphany” (sudden realization).

If then, this kid had died, there would have been no concept of electricity, remote controls, Xray machines and solar panels. We know this brilliant kid as "Nikola Tesla".

Born on a stormy night of 9 July 1856, in a village of Croatia, Nikola Tesla owns 700 inventions. His talent and intelligence were inherited from his mother. His mother Georgina Djuka Tesla, was his greatest inspiration for his love of experimenting with electricity. When he was growing up, she would invent small electrical appliances in her spare time including a mechanical egg. In 1870 he went to Graz University, Austria for engineering, where he contemplated to make a device that would store the electric current, and later would use it to work in machines. This is how he gave the concept of Alternating Current (AC Current) motor, which revolutionized the science fraternity. He also created Tesla Coil, which is still used in radio technology.

Apart from his wonderful legacy, there were numerous inventions that never got built. In 1893, he invented an Earthquake Machine; a steam-powered mechanical oscillator that would vibrate up and down at high speeds to generate electricity. During its testing, it caused considerable damage to surrounding, as Nikola once stated that, “it caused all the heavy machinery to fly in the air, owing to the effect of ground-shaking”. He also believed that our thoughts could be photographed through a Thought Camera. He discussed it in one of his press conferences but it never got a tangible shape. Besides, his vision included the notions about various other innovations including artificial tidal waves, wireless energy, a death beam that could help the military in fighting wars, and an electric-powered supersonic airships. Tesla’s brain power was matchless and startling, and that could be seen in the things around us, even in the present world. After we lost this legend in 1943, the world is still waiting to see another Tesla with sharp observation and superlative wisdom.