Difference between revisions of "Nikola Tesla"

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*Tesla is also the name of an American hard rock band.
 
*Tesla is also the name of an American hard rock band.
 
*Tesla and his experiments form the basis of many of the [[conspiracy theories]] believed by the protagonists in Douglas Rushkoff's novel ''[http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ecstasy-Club-Douglas-Rushkoff/dp/034069680X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1250148777&sr=8-3 The Ecstasy Club]''.
 
*Tesla and his experiments form the basis of many of the [[conspiracy theories]] believed by the protagonists in Douglas Rushkoff's novel ''[http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ecstasy-Club-Douglas-Rushkoff/dp/034069680X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1250148777&sr=8-3 The Ecstasy Club]''.
*Tesla is the inventor of the Tesla Towers in London, supplying the city with energy, and of many other devices in a number of books by Robert Rankin: ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Rankin Robert Rankin Wiki page]]''
 
  
 
==See also==
 
==See also==

Revision as of 18:37, 28 September 2010

A Tesla coil in action.

Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) was a Serbian-American physicist and inventor whose greatest accomplishments were paving the way for practical widespread distribution of electricity by way of the development of alternating current, the Tesla coil (a type of high-voltage transformer still used in a number of applications today) and having a hand in the creation of radio alongside rivals Guglielmo Marconi and Reginald Fessenden. Though he originally worked for Thomas Edison, they had a falling-out over alternating current and Tesla left to work for Edison's competition. Tesla was among the most prolific and noted scientists of his time, but made some very poor financial and legal decisions, allowing others such as Edison and George Westinghouse to register patents for his inventions, and he died in relative poverty.

Tesla's appeal to cranks

Tesla, slightly before his death, or possibly slightly afterwards.

While Tesla's major accomplishments went a long way towards creating the world as we know it, he was also something of a mad scientist, dealing in numerous bizarre theoretical, and often unworkable, ideas, including a wireless power transmission system and, most notoriously, a "death ray". Like other pioneering scientists of his era, including Thomas Edison and William Crooke, Tesla was fascinated by the paranormal, the "spirit world" and the possibility of extraterrestrial life. He is also reported to have had various eccentricities and phobias, and it seems rather likely that he suffered from obsessive compulsive disorder.

Tesla's poorly-thought-out later ideas are much beloved of would-be engineers with little formal scientific training, and as a result Tesla's name is sometimes used as a handwave by unscrupulous or naive inventors misrepresenting their inventions.

Tesla is also a favourite figure of conspiracy theorists, and there are numerous theories revolving around him, most of which claim that his death was suspicious and followed some great breakthrough discovery or invention by him which has been kept secret ever since. In some variants, this is the "death ray" he was working on; in others, some form of paranormal or extraterrestrial communication. "The Tesla Conspiracy"[1] site claims that he had discovered the means of drawing electricity directly from the atmosphere, but that this has been hushed up by the interests of unscrupulous oil and energy companies. Further fuel was added to the conspiracists' fire when the US government took control of Tesla's papers after he passed away.

Tesla in slightly popular culture

This list of miscellaneous information is endorsed by the RationalWiki Pub Quiz Team!

  • In Jim Jarmusch's Coffee and Cigarettes, the White Stripes try to play with a Tesla coil. Results: Epic phail.
  • Alternative country duo The Handsome Family wrote the moving "Tesla's Hotel Room", which appears on their album Last Days of Wonder (2006).
  • In the film The Prestige (2006), Tesla (played by David Bowie) secretly invents a device capable of teleporting and cloning any person or object. Apparently the only useful application for such a machine is in stage magic.
  • Canadian science fiction series Sanctuary depicts Tesla as a member of an ancient vampire civilisation with a hatred for humanity. Tesla has a black sense of humor, and was originally not a vampire, but became one after Helen Magnus extracted a serum from vampire blood. Oddly enough, Tesla loves Magnus (but then again, so does everybody, she plays Samantha Carter in Stargate SG-1), and can light up lightbulbs by sticking his finger in them.
  • Nikola Tesla is the creator of Atomic Robo, the protagonist of Brian Clevinger's Atomic Robo.[2] (Of which a sample is available here).
  • In the Red Alert series of strategy games, Tesla Coils are powerful weapons used by the dastardly commies.
  • Tesla is also the name of an American hard rock band.
  • Tesla and his experiments form the basis of many of the conspiracy theories believed by the protagonists in Douglas Rushkoff's novel The Ecstasy Club.

See also

External links

Footnotes