Nikola Tesla
Radio
Tesla was one of the first to patent the method of reliably obtaining currents that can be used in radio communications. US Patent 447,920, issued in the USA on March 10, 1891, described the “Method of Operating Arc-Lamps”, in which the alternator produced high-frequency (by the standards of that time) current fluctuations of the order of 10,000 Hz A patented innovation was the method of suppressing the sound produced by an arc lamp under the influence of an alternating or pulsating current, for which Tesla came up with the use of frequencies that are beyond the perception of human hearing. According to modern classification, the alternator operated in the range of very low radio frequencies.
Tesla demonstrates the principles of radio communications, 1891
In 1891, at a public lecture, Tesla described and demonstrated the principles of radio communications. In 1893, he came to grips with wireless communications and invented the mast antenna. In 1893, Tesla built the first wave radio transmitter, ahead of Marconi and Popov for several years. In 1943, the US Supreme Court confirmed Tesla’s primacy in this invention.
Resonance
Statue of Nikola Tesla in front of St. Sava Orthodox Church, Manhattan, New York
Tesla coils are still sometimes used precisely to produce long spark discharges resembling lightning. In 1998, an engineer from Stanford, Greg Leigh, demonstrated to the public the effect of “lightning by order”, standing in a metal cage under the giant outline of Tesla and controlling the lightning with a metal “magic wand”. He recently launched a campaign to raise funds for the construction of two more “Tesla towers” in the southwestern United States. The project will cost $ 6 million. However, the lightning master hoped to recover costs by selling the unit to the Federal Aviation Administration. With the help of it, aviators will be able to study what is happening with the planes caught in a thunderstorm.
In one of the scientific journals, Tesla talked about experiments with a mechanical oscillator, by tuning which to the resonant frequency of any object, it can be destroyed. In the article, Tesla said that he connected the device to one of the beams at home, after a while the house began to shake, a small earthquake began. Tesla took the hammer and smashed the invention. Tesla said that it was a natural earthquake to the firefighters and policemen who had arrived. He ordered his assistants to keep silent about the incident.
Memorialization of Nikola Tesla
In many countries, there are monuments to Nikola Tesla, for example, in New York (see above), at Belgrade airport and near the building of Belgrade University. The name of Tesla is the unit of measurement of magnetic induction in the SI system. A jubilee Serbian coin was issued for the 150th anniversary of Tesla, 2006.
Tesla is depicted on the SFRY 1978 banknote. In the center of Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, there is a street named after Nikola Tesla, on which there is a monument to the great scientist.
In Croatia, in the resort town of Porec (Croatian Poreč), located on the western coast of the Istrian peninsula, there is the Nikola Tesla Embankment. The name Tesla named streets in Sibenik, Split, Rijeka, Varazdin. The airport in the Belgrade suburb of Surchin was named after Nikola Tesla.
Modern application of Tesla’s ideas
Alternating current is the main method of transmitting electricity over long distances. Electricity generators are the main elements in the generation of electricity at hydropower plants, nuclear power plants, thermal power plants, etc.
Electric motors, first created by Nikola Tesla, are used in all modern machines, electric trains, electric cars, trams, trolley buses
Radio-controlled robotics is widespread not only in children’s toys and wireless television and computer devices (control panels), but also in the military sphere, in the civil sphere, in matters of military, civil and domestic, as well as the external security of countries, etc.
Wireless chargers are beginning to be used to charge mobile phones or laptops.
The personality of Nikola Tesla
Oddities
He was afraid of microbes in panic, constantly washed his hands and in hotels demanded up to 18 towels per day. If during dinner a fly was sitting on the table, he forced the waiter to bring a new order. Check in at the hotel only if the number of his apartment was a multiple of three.
Phobias and obsessive states were combined in Tesla with amazing energy. Walking down the street, he could make a flip in a sudden rush. He often walked in the park and read Goethe’s Faust by heart, and at these moments brilliant technical ideas filled him. On the other hand, he had an inexplicable gift of foresight. Once, seeing off his friends after the party, he persuaded them not to get on a suitable train and this saved their lives – the train really got off the rails, and many passengers died or were injured …
Nikola Tesla’s eccentric nature caused a lot of rumors. Supporters of conspiracy theories believe that the CIA has coded most of its development and still hides them from the world scientific community. Tesla’s experiments were attributed to the problem of the Tunguska meteorite, to the “Philadelphia experiment” – the transformation of a large US warship with its entire crew into an invisible object, etc.
In his autobiography, Tesla describes a number of “unusual attachments, prejudices and habits” he acquired in his youth:
Tesla played billiards almost professionally.
Fueled fierce antipathy to women’s earrings, especially with pearls.
The smell of camphor gave him a very strong discomfort.
If, in the process of research, he dropped a small square of paper into a liquid, this caused him a particularly horrible taste in his mouth.
Tesla counted the steps when walking, the volume of plates with soup, cups of coffee and pieces of food. If he could not do it, then the food did not give him pleasure, so he preferred to eat alone.
Relationship to people
According to Rzhonsnitsky, “Tesla could not and did not know how to work in a team because of the nature of his character.”
Tesla has never been married. According to him, innocence largely helped his scientific abilities. Nevertheless, he was very popular among women and many were in love with him.
Awards
Cavalier of the Montenegrin Order of Prince Danilo I, 2nd degree (1895).
Cavalier of the Grand Cross of the Order of the White Lion (Czechoslovakia) (1891),
Gold Medal of Elliott Cresson (Elliott Cresson Gold Medal) (1894),
Edison Medal (AIEE, 1916),
The John Scott Medal (1934)
