Hugo Gernsback, the famous writer, once stated that Nikola Tesla was the greatest inventor in the world. He had to mean “the man who actually invented”, which is to say, he discovered and invented something new.
Nikola Tesla was born in Croatia on July 10, 1856. He is widely believed to be one the greatest scientists to ever live. It is evident that he is a highly respected scientist. His most important inventions include the AC current motors, war of the currents, tesla coil, radio, and the war for the currents. The heated debate between the two started in 1884 when Tesla was first employed by Thomas Edison. They were good friends and enjoyed each other’s company. Tesla was working as an electrician and created the first ACmotor. He took Edison’s dynamos to remake them. This included replacing the long magnets of their dynamos with shorter ones. He believed this was threefold more efficient than the DC version.
Edison invents a way to produce DC electricity at a fraction of the cost. He also creates dynamos, machines and other equipment. There was no way for voltage to be increased or decreased. AC was the best because it had a transformer. Two coils wrapped around an Iron core make up a transformer. One coil of wire is wrapped around an iron core. When an electric current passes through it, the iron core becomes magnetic. This causes current to flow through the other conductor. This amazing device allowed for an increase in output, as well as a decrease in voltage over long distances. After that, the voltage was cut to safer values to be delivered to the consumer. The war of currents was born as Edison and electric companies that used DC electricity were at risk. Edison and Harold Brown, a man who was also named Harold Brown, began spreading information about AC electricity’s dangers and publicly electrocuted cats, dogs, horses, and Topsy to prove it.
George Westinghouse began to experiment in 1855 with a transformer designed by Lucien Gaulard (and John Gibbs) and presented a paper at the American Institute of Electrical Engineers in May 1888 to prove AC superior to DC. Westinghouse by that time had sold more AC power station than all of those providing DC power. AC was the clear winner due to its obvious benefits.
The Tesla coil, another influential device by Tesla, is also a key component. The Tesla coil, which enables wireless electricity transfer, is simply put. Heinrich Hertz, the man who first transmitted and received radio waves, was the inspiration for this invention. Hertz’s basic design was modified by Tesla to operate on AC current. This increased the frequency of the original device from a few hundreds to tens to zillion cycles per second. The Tesla coil was created through his experiments. The Tesla coil consists of two coils made of wire, a top-load capacitor, a stepup transformer and a spark gap capacitor. The transformer raises the voltage in a circuit. The primary coil’s capacitor would store the charge. This creates a voltage that tries to bridge the spark-gap. The circuit is then closed and the current bursts through coils. This creates a strong magnetic field inside the primary coil. This magnetic field change causes voltage to run through coils. Top loads maximize this energy from primary coil. This voltage can cause air molecules to be broken apart and their electrons to move in arcs. It creates tremendous sparks.
Nikola Tesla has used this incredible piece of equipment to study, and even discover more about radio, X-rays and fluorescence. It can be used in modern technology in a variety of ways, including CRT screens, combustion engines or welding machines.
Tesla’s dream to create a wireless world was not fulfilled with the Tesla coil. It would continue to be used in other Tesla products, such as the radio. Tesla created the first radio in 1892. He also invented a radio-controlled robot boat in 1898. The propeller, rudder, lights and switches of the boat were powered by batteries. Tesla could control the boat’s speed, direction, and even turn on/off lights using a variety of frequencies. Tesla created a radio transmitter tower on Wardenclyffe in Long Island in 1900 when he realized what radio could do. This tower had one goal: to make radio transmissions available around the world.
Marconi also had an idea of his own, and he built a power transmitter at Poldhu, Cornwall. On December 12, 1901, he was able to transmit a signal over 320 km. Otis Pond who was an engineer at Tesla said that Tesla had “gotten the jump on Marconi.” Tesla replied, “Marconi, you are a good man.” Let him go on. He has seventeen patents.”
Tesla said that Marconi believed it impossible to transmit a signal across Atlantic because of the Earth’s curvature. The wall of water would prevent the signal from passing through.
Guglielmo Marconi is often credited with the invention, despite all of this. Marconi was granted patents for his radio-device inventions. Marconi also won the Nobel Prize. A National Press Reporter 1912 article summarizes the situation best. It states that Tesla, in 1892, demonstrated that the true Hertzian effects were not a way for sending stations to communicate with receiving stations at great distances. He showed that waves propagated by transmitting stations travel along ground as conductors. These views are now accepted as correct. Marconi managed to distill the findings of the previous investigators into an effective system of space Telegraphy. This explains the difference between Tesla’s discovery of radio science and Marconi’s contribution to that knowledge, getting credit for it.
The patent battle raged for years and didn’t stop until the deaths of both Marconi and Tesla. Six months following Tesla’s demise in 1943, six years after Marconi was killed, the US supreme judge ruled that all Marconi’s radio patents had been invalidated and awarded them to Tesla. Thus, he is considered the true inventor and creator of this magnificent device.
It is clear, then, that Tesla’s impact on technology has been significant, not only in his lifetime but also in the modern age. Gernsback was certainly right when he called Tesla the world’s most important inventor.