Nikola Tesla: A Genius, a Visionary

The mind is sharper and keener in seclusion and uninterrupted solitude. No big laboratory is needed in which to think. Originality thrives in seclusion free of outside influences beating upon us to cripple the creative mind. Be alone, that is the secret of invention; be alone, that is when ideas are born. That is why many of the earthly miracles have had their genesis in humble surroundings.
— Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla: A Moment of Insight art by Tatiana Berg | Purchase print or painting | All Artwork

Have you ever noticed that the greatest discoveries burst upon the mind of their inventors as if out of nowhere? They would focus on a certain branch of human activity and suddenly receive enlightenment in the form of knowledge. They had the abilities that enabled them to hear without listening, to see without looking, to know and to get information almost immediately, while being in tune with the Universe.
The great physicist and visionary Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) was one of such inventors. Tesla gave humanity a variety of breakthrough inventions and an even larger number of mysteries that for various reasons have not reached us or were intentionally kept secret by the genius himself. Selfless and dedicated, Nikola Tesla spent his life almost like a hermit in the temple of Science, created incredible mechanisms and made dozens of discoveries, which were way ahead of his time.

Destiny depends on choices. You can either prance around in the filthy puddle of lost humanity and weakness, or you can drink the sweet wine of victory and soar. You start developing only while aspiring to achieve something outstanding. When people abandon the philosophy of courage and cling to the comfortable, safe, well-fed life, they can expect nothing but decay and extinction. We are free to shape our consciousness however we like.
― A. R. Berg

Awarded more than 100 patents over the course of his lifetime, Nikola Tesla was a man of considerable genius and vision. He was reportedly born at exactly midnight during an electrical storm, an intriguing beginning for a man who would one day help light up all of America with the alternating current (AC) electric power systems he invented. In addition to his AC systems, which allowed more efficient and safer power transmission over long distances than the direct current (DC) systems preferred by Thomas Edison, Tesla pioneered radio technology, experimented with X-rays, invented the first boat controlled remotely and was a great proponent of wireless communication. Despite his many achievements, Tesla faced numerous difficulties, often finding himself at odds with other inventors, such as Thomas Edison and Guglielmo Marconi, and struggling to stay out of debt when business ventures fell through.
Tesla, the son of a Serbian Orthodox priest and his wife (herself the daughter of a priest), spent his early life in Croatia. He had four siblings. Tesla attended the Austrian Polytechnic Institute in Graz, Austria, where he developed an interest in motors and the possible uses of alternating current.

Nikola Tesla: A Moment of Insight art by Tatiana Berg | Purchase print or painting | All Artwork

Internalizing the concept of a strong-willed decisiveness leads to a dramatic change in consciousness. By bringing it to life, one becomes a Hero. Will subdues space and time; it is much more powerful than people think. Will makes our consciousness work, it is the concentration of higher energy and decisiveness. It is the order of consciousness. It is almighty.
Strong will is capable of changing the world by subjecting events to the energy of consciousness. History is rich with examples of one man subjecting millions to his will, making them do things otherwise impossible without him.
― A. R. Berg

Tesla immigrated to the United States in 1894, bringing with him a letter of recommendation addressed to Thomas Edison, a few cents and little else. The letter served its purpose well, gaining Tesla a position at Edison Machine Works. Nevertheless, despite his skills in electrical design, Tesla was not suited to work with Edison, whose methods and ideas opposed his own. When Edison failed to follow through on a promised bonus, Tesla left the company.
By selling his rights to the polyphase alternating current power system to George Westinghouse, Tesla did little to endear himself with Edison. The Westinghouse Electric Company quickly began promoting the AC system, competing against Edison’s older DC system. To gain acceptance for AC power, Westinghouse and Tesla carried out numerous demonstrations, including using it to power a special electrical exhibition at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. The rivalry was fierce, but the Tesla-Westinghouse approach gradually became the dominant means of providing power throughout the country.

It is paradoxical, yet true, to say, that the more we know, the more ignorant we become in the absolute sense, for it is only through enlightenment that we become conscious of our limitations. Precisely one of the most gratifying results of intellectual evolution is the continuous opening up of new and greater prospects.
— Nikola Tesla

Money he earned from his involvement with Westinghouse allowed Tesla to set up his own laboratory, where he carried out studies in many areas and invented a variety of novel devices.

In 1891, he developed the Tesla coil, a high-frequency transformer that produces an extremely powerful electrical field. The Tesla coil later was used widely in radio and electronics. In 1898, Tesla invented a remote-controlled boat. He thought the technology would be useful to the military, but for decades it remained little more than a novelty. Tesla relocated briefly to Colorado Springs, Colorado, seeking more space and better atmospheric conditions for his high-voltage experiments. There he discovered terrestrial stationary waves within the Earth and measured the resonance frequency of the planet. Some of his activities in the remote laboratory became fodder for reporters, who questioned Tesla’s claims that he received extraterrestrial radio signals, and damaged his reputation as a serious scientist. Increasingly, Tesla became known as an eccentric, but he never let what other people said about him keep him from his scientific pursuits.

Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I have really worked, is mine.
— Nikola Tesla

Even as his Colorado lab was being dismantled to pay off debts, Tesla was planning his next major endeavor. With the financial backing of J.P. Morgan, Tesla began planning a wireless global broadcasting tower to be located in Long Island. Construction of the Wardenclyffe Tower began in the early 1900s, but Morgan pulled out of the deal and the project was scrapped. Without funding Tesla was unable to achieve his dream of wide-scale wireless telecommunication and power transmission, a tremendous setback for him and the world. Few of his contemporaries understood the great potential of Tesla’s plan and considered the failed tower an example of his folly.

Saint Nikola Tesla art by Tatiana Berg | Purchase print or painting | All Artwork

The giant gears of history seem still and covered with thick dust… But look! A hero arrives. He does not dwindle or ask idle questions for he has decided what to do and his unbreakable will sets the wheels of change in motion. Only one who has decided that there are no limits can become a hero. He seems to create an alternative reality, or perhaps he is from a different world. Everything bends before Him…
― A. R. Berg

Tesla died in a hotel in New York in January 1943. He was in debt at the time, as he was much of his life. Money problems prevented him from fully pursing many of his inventions; ideas languished in his notebooks, never materializing. The year of his death, Tesla posthumously won his ongoing battle with Marconi regarding the patent rights to the radio, which had escalated all the way to the United States Supreme Court. In honor of Tesla, the SI unit of magnetic flux density, which was defined in 1960, bears his name. The tesla is equivalent to one weber per square meter.

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