Nikola Tesla was born on June 28, 1856 according to the old (Julian) or July 10, according to the new (Gregorian) calendar. He was born in Smiljan as fourth child of five children. His father Milutin was a Serbian Orthodox priest and his mother Georgina was a very wise and pious woman. They lived in the Military District of the Austrian Empire not far from the border of Ottoman empire. Nikola was baptized in the Serbian Orthodox Church of Sts. Peter and Paul in Smiljan. Being that his grandfathers shared the same name – NIkola, he was pretty much named after both of them.
Nikola Tesla’s home and church in which he was baptized
Because the young Nikola was so sick and weak, they scheduled the baptism out of the ordinary (the very next day) fearing he would not survive much longer. The baptism of the child was performed by priest Tomo Oklopdzija at Sts. Peter and Paul Serbian Orthodox Church in Smiljan His father?s friend, Captain Jovan Drenovac was the Godfather. Church records state that the child was named Nikola for both of his grandfathers who shared the same name thus Nikola was pretty much named after both of them.
Nikola’s father was a gifted writer and poet who owned a rich library where Nikola spent his childhood reading and learning foreign languages there.
Nikola Tesla’s father Milutin Tesla
Nicola’s mother was a hardworking woman with many talents. She was very creative and made her country life easier with her inventions. Nikola Tesla is thought to have inherited his mother’s inclination for research work. .
Nikola’s mother Georgina Mandich Tesla
Nikola had three older siblings. His brother Dane and two sisters Milka and Angelina were older. His favorite little sister Marica was the youngest child in the Tesla family. They lived in the Military District of the Austrian Empire, not far from the border of the Ottoman empire.
Young Nikola Tesla
When Nikola was only five years old, his brother Dane fell off a horse?s back and died. That left a huge mark on the family. As a young boy, Nikola was considered less intelligent while Dane was considered extremely gifted. Dane’s death is believed to be the primary reason why Nikola’s father for long time has refused to allow him to attend technical school away from home.
Nikola attended the first grade of elementary school in his native Smiljan. His father Milutin was ordained priest in Gospich, and the family moved to this place in 1862. He completed the remaining three grades of elementary school and the three-years of High School in Gospich.
It was in Gospich were Nikola first turned everyone’s attention to himself. A shopkeeper organized demonstration exercise for a fire department. Many residents of Gospic attended that demonstration exercise to witness the failure of firefighters to pump water from the Lika River. Experts have tried to find out the reason why the pump does not draw water, but to no avail. Tesla, who was seven or eight at the time, instinctively solved the problem by entering the river and just tearing off the other end of the hose. IT worked! Because of this, he was celebrated as the hero of the day.
He became seriously ill at the end of the third grade in 1870. In the fall he went to Rakovac, Serbia near Karlovac to complete three more grades. He graduated on July 24, 1873, in a group of only seven students and in very good standing as he was good in draft geometry. He was only 17 at the time. After graduation, he returned to Gospic and had cholera the very first day. He ended up being ill for nine months. In these circumstances, he succeeded in convincing his father to promise him that instead of going to theology school he would be enrolled in engineering studies.
Nikola as 23 year old young man
After he is healed, his father sends him to his uncle a priest Toma Mandich, in Tomingaj near Gracac. In this beautiful countryside and the mountain Nikola geathered strength for the efforts that awaited him. In 1875, when Tesla was 19 years old, he began his studies in electrical engineering at the Graz Polytechnic School in southern Styria (today Austria).
He sleeps very little, only four hours a day, and spent the remainder of his free time learning.
He gets highest grades in all his exams. Even then, he was interested in the possibility of using AC power. He read everything that could get into his hands (100 volumes of Walter’s writings). Nikola wrote of himself: “I read many books, and at the age of 24, I knew many by heart. Especially Goethe’s Faust.” His professors were concerned about his health, so they send letters to his father advising him to pull Nikola out of the school. They were concerned that he would overwork himself to death.
Nikola’s house today
After the first year of studying the Imperial-Royal General Command (assisting poor students from the Military Frontier) stopped sending him the scholarship . Therefore, he had to addresses the famous “Matica Srpska” in Novi Sad twice for a scholarship. The first time on October 14, 1876, and the second time on September 1, 1878. Both times he was rejected. In December 1878 he left Graz and severed all relations with his loved ones. His friends thought for a while that he was drowned in river Mura. Later he goes to Marburg (today Maribor) where he gets a job working with an engineer. But soon he starts to gamble.
After many months of worrying and unsuccessful search, his father finally finds him and returns him home. The father, who was an exemplary man, could not find justification for such behavior. Unfortunately, shortly afterwards his father died on April 30, 1879. That same year Nikola decided to work in the High School in Gospich for a while.
Nikola Tesla’s High School
In January 1880, he went to Prague to finish his studies and thus to fulfil one of his father’s wishes. But he couldn’t enroll in Charles University because he did not study Greek in high school. However, he was able to listen to lectures in physics and electrical engineering. At that time, his address was Ve Smechkah 13 address, a place where a memorial plaque was erected in 2011. During that time, he spent most of his time at the libraries in Clementinum and at the People’s Café on Vodichkov Street.
The following year, aware that his loved ones endured a tremendous sacrifice for him, Nikola decided to release them from that burden and left his studies.
Tesla stated in his autobiography that he lively and vividly experienced moments of inspiration. From his early days he had the ability to create in his mind a precise picture of an invention before making it. This phenomenon is called “Visual Thinking” in psychology.
Nikola Tesla’s monument in Prague
In 1881, he moved to Budapest where he was employed by a telegraph company called the American Telephone Company. At the opening of the telephone exchange in 1881, Tesla became the chief telephone technician at the company. There he invented a device that, according to some, is a telephone booster, while to others it is the first speaker.
In Budapest, Tesla came up with the idea of solving a commutator-free AC problem. This happened while he was walking with a friend and reciting Goethe’s “Faust”, and then he suddenly started to draw, with a stick on the sand, the lines of force of a rotating magnetic field. Over the next two months he developed sketches of many types of engines and modifications that he would patent five years later in America.
The Varosliget City Park of Budapest Where Tesla Had His AC Vision
He moved to Paris in 1882 where he worked as an engineer for the Edison Company in the field of electrical equipment improvement. In 1883, a company in Strasbourg (present-day Strasbourg) was supposed to set up a one-way power plant because the German emperor was expected at the opening.
Tesla was given this assignment and thus he resided in Strasbourg from 14 October 1883 to 24 February 1884. It was here that Tesla signed the first business contract for the realization of the first induction motor. So at the end of 1883 in Strasbourg the first induction motor was created, which uses the principle of rotating magnetic field of alternating currents. He also began developing various types of polyphase systems and devices with rotating magnetic fields (for which he was granted a patent in 1888).
Nikola Tesla in Paris
On June 6, 1884, Tesla came to America to New York with a letter of recommendation received from his previous boss, Charles Bechelor. In the recommendation, Bechelor wrote: “I know two great men, and you are one of them; the other is this young man. “
Edison employed Tesla at his company Edison’s machinery. Tesla quickly progressed and successfully solved the most complicated problems in the company. Soon after Tesla has been offered to do a full reprojection of the Edison company’s DC power generator.
After Tesla described the nature of the gains from its new construction, Edison offered him $ 50,000 ($ 1.1 million today) when everything was successfully completed and made. Tesla worked for nearly a year on new constructions and brought several patents to Edison’s company, which then earned incredible profits.
When Tesla then asked Edison about the $ 50,000 pledge, Edison told him “Tesla, you don’t understand our American sense of humor.” and broke his promise. Instead Edison agreed to increase Tesla’s salary by $ 10 a week, as a type of compromise, meaning he would have to work 53 years to earn the money he had originally been promised. This made Tesla quit immediately.
As a good businessman, Edison made money by using his one-way power generators, which were very expensive to set up and maintain. Several DC stations were also required to provide one city block, while Tesla’s alternator was sufficient to supply the entire city.
Recognizing the effectiveness of Tesla’s patents, Edison used a variety of ways to convince the public that the current was dangerous, walking around town fairs and killing animals (dogs, cats, and in one case, elephants) in front of the media. The first electric chair was created on his idea.
As a response to Edison’s false accusations, Tesla plugged himself into the AC circuit. This caused the filaments of the electric lamps to glow, and with that counteracted all the preconceptions about AC being dangerous and damaging.
- To be continued…
I am interested in Nikola Tesla’s life. He was an amazing man. Please, tell me more. Art.