The Nikola Tesla Exhibition - The Man Who Invented The Future
Last Saturday I visited the Museum of Technology in Thessaloniki (ΝΟΗΣΙΣ). It hosted a temporary exhibition on the life and work of a remarkably bright mind, Nikola Tesla. A man who dedicated himself to his science and pursued his ideas instead of recognition and wealth. The exhibits come from the Tesla Museum in Belgrade.
His life in short:
Nikola was born in 1856 in a place that is now in modern Croatia to Serbian parents. He was a very active and naughty child. His father was a priest, whereas his mother had an admirable creativity and is said to have made various inventions in order to make her everyday life and chores easier. Nikola was probably affected by his mother example.
His father, though, had different plans about his son; being a priest himself he saw young Nikola as a future priest too. But fortunate in his own bad luck, Nikola got down with cholera. His condition was so critical that his father promised him that if he was to make it alive, Nikola would be allowed to pursue whatever career he wished. It is said that Tesla recovered because "God wanted him to offer his intelligence in the service of humanity".
He studied in the Technical University in Austria and continued later in Prague. His first great achievement was to develop the telephone system in Budapest in 1881. In 1884 he went to America and worked for Edison (yes, the famous light bulb inventor Edison). Four years later, things don't work out for Tesla and Edison (the former being above money and profit and the latter being a cruel businessman). So, Nikola leaves to work with George Westinghouse.
Tesla and Westinghouse work on the spread of AC current, whereas their rival, Edison, has based his whole monopoly an DC current, declaring how dangerous alternating current is. Direct current had several drawbacks like being the cause of house fires and having very short maximum range; so in order to distribute it numerous substations and wiring would be required. Alternate current, on the other hand, could "travel" a lot further and light bulbs brighter.
After lighting up Chicago World's Fair, Tesla becomes a star overnight. He takes advantage of the publicity in order to make connections and earn funding for his work. Along with Westinghouse, in 1899 they work on a hydroelectric power station in the Niagara Falls where Tesla owns 9 out of the 13 patents the station is based on.
A great lab fire once destroyed lots of his work and experimenting equipment, but Nikola didn't give up. One of his greatest inventions was inarguably the Tesla Coil (see the photo below). People would gather to his demonstrations. Nikola's greatest conception was the idea of wireless transmission of electricity. In 1899 he went to Colorado to further experiment his crazy idea. He built a tall transmission tower that was said to power light bulbs in a range of 26 miles.
His idea of free energy did not appeal to his funders, who weren't very fond of supplying energy without getting paid in return. Tesla's funding was cut off, the 1929 Crash came to make things worse and Tesla started to get himself lost in his world. He never had a family and kids. He died alone, at the age of 86, in a hotel room, because he never wanted to own a house, he was beyond ownership, he was beyond profit, a man that was obssessed with his science and devoted himself to mankind. His legacy? More than 700 patents and ideas that make our lives easier even today.
Note: This man's life has lots of aspects that are not mentioned in this post. If I wanted to be more thorough this post should come out in at least three parts. Maybe in the future I'll come back to him and pay this man a real tribute.
Check the video below for some of his discoveries:
Tesla worked on the rotating magnetic field, the famous Tesla coil, he was the first to establish wireless control, he accidentally discovered X-rays around the same time with Redgen and many, many more...
A demonstration of a rotating magnetic field generator:
And see how a lightbulb lights up with no wires present:
Apologies for this video, but I was too close to the transmitter and my phone went mad and started zooming in at will. Tesla hacked my camera for good :P
If you want more details, watch Hank talk about Tesla on this episode of the SciShow:
And let's close with an Epic Rap Battle between the two rivals, Edison and Tesla. Who won? :P
References
*All images by @ruth-girl from the NOESIS museum of technology in Thessaloniki
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nicolas Tesla is great. able to treat Niagara Falls into something that can not be given with any value. but his life ended tragically. Thanks for information
Thank you for reading. He was a remarkable man!
"The Man Who Invented The Future"
Hey, I REALLY resent that! All possible futures begin with once upon a time!
p.s. You should ask Trumpman about the connection between Donal Trump's favorite uncle and Tesla.
Apologies, but that was the title of the exhibition, perhaps these people at the museum should do some better research :P
Oh, I will the next time I see him ;)
I guess it's not your fault then.
@onceuponatime i have done post for you please check it freind
An amazing man who was seriously underrated. I had read somewhere that the Hollywood and comic book image of the mad scientist in his laboratory with electric sparks flying everywhere is based upon Tesla.
I didn't know about that, I only knew about the film The Prestige that somehow combined fiction with his work.
I think it was a biography about Tesla I was watching.
Unfortunately i wasn't able to visit that exhibition even though it is a few km away from my home.
I would like to ask you if these inventions are live working there.
Yes, they are and they can be operated by the visitors (except for the coil). I don't know how long they will keep the exhibition there, but it definitely deserves a visit! :)
What was the most impressive ?
Without a doubt the coil demonstration (operated only by the museum guide) and the wireless power transfer (the video with lamp lighting when it approached the transmitters)
The coil wasn't plunged in to any external power source i guess!
Because i know very well that if you approach any fluorescent light lamp to close to an RF transmitter it glows due to induction.
No from what I could tell. The exhibition even had a 4-minute show with the coil, the guide made it "play music" which was really fascinating, but the video was long (2mins) and my internet connection too slow to upload it.
We had a demonstration of neon lamps too.
Ok... i have to visit it.. :)
Definitely!
great blog and great Tesla!
Indeed, a great unit of magnetic field :)
yep;)
Nice post! Not a single mention to any myth (which is something I like) :)
I cannot prevent myself from advertising @physics-o-mania's post, here that was also extremely good on the topic :)
Thank you! His life and work really amazed me! I never checked his biography and by the things we were told by the guide at the museum I admired him as a person (although I felt sorry for his ending)
@physics-o-mania did a great work in his post for sure!
And what have we offered mankind?
You have offered food!!!! Which is another expression of love!
😁
Very good presentation for a man whose discoveries are being used today and some of his designs have been left in the drawers.
Soon I will prepare a similar post.
Yes, I was fascinated, never studied him more thoroughly and I regret that.
I'll be waiting @nikoleondas!
This post has received gratitude of 1.00 % from @jout
You never show me your gratitude :(