Nikola Tesla — The Child of Light
What a travesty of our system? That was my reaction when I read about Nikola Tesla for the first time. My ignorance of the legend who touched almost every human life on the planet left me baffled and hollow with sense of indebtedness.
The “Genius” who was an inventor, engineer, scientist, physicist, mathematician, and visionary all in one. From electricity, x-rays and drones to radar and robotics, there are traces of his work in every modern-day device.
Yet, recognition and wealth had always sidestepped him. Or was he indifferent to that? The fact is our world was unable to grasp his greatness at that time. We failed him.
He lived a roller coaster of a life; digging ditches for cabling, becoming the richest person on the planet, and so much more. He took a number of risks that didn’t always pay off. What did pay off, however, changed the world forever. His ideas that didn’t come to fruition are so grand that scientists struggle to decipher them even now.
Three of his life circumstances intrigued me most. Had any of these transpired a different way, the world would not be the same.
His parting with Edison:
After arriving in US, Nikola Tesla worked with Edison, the then successful business tycoon, in improving direct current (DC) Dynamos. But they parted soon due to their contrasting personalities and scientific differences. He then went on to develop the alternating current (AC) system. The same system which is prevalent today and preferred over DC due to its ease of transmission. What if he had never left and continued there as one of Edison’s engineers, compromising his uprightness? Would large part of the world have been in dark and deprived off vast electrification we see today?
Too generous?
Once AC’s superiority was established, he started a collaboration with Westinghouse who bought his patents. During the war of currents, Tesla tore up the original contract relinquishing his royalties to save Westinghouse from verge of Bankruptcy. His $2.50 royalty for each horsepower of electricity sold would have made him the richest person on the planet. Enough for self-funding many ahead of his time inventions and possibilities. He was deprived of funding when he needed it the most.
Dream of free electricity:
Tesla believed that there was unlimited electric power available in the universe without the need for coal, gas, oil, or any other fuel. He dreamed of deriving this power and beaming electricity without wires through a channel between the Earth and the ionosphere for anyone to tap into freely. However, it never went to culmination due to the need for additional funding. Had his dream been successful, renewable energy would have been our go to source of energy, diminishing the multitude of environmental problems we face today.
Nikola Tesla never amassed personal wealth but he enriched our world in many ways. At his birth his mother referred him as “the child of light”. It is not overstatement to say that he has invented the twentieth century. Humanity owes an immense debt of gratitude to this unfathomable ingenious mind.
