Why History Ignored Tesla and his inventions?

Nikola Tesla was the Father of Electricity who changed the world by his Invention

He was a genius, Talented & dedicated scientist, who just sleep just 2 - 3 hours a day. Tesla got more out of the day with his limited sleep schedule. Like Da Vinci, Telsa also followed the Uberman sleep cycle and claimed to never sleep for more than two hours a day.

Why History Ignored Tesla and his inventions?

The Biggest Achievements

1)Alternating Current

the most important inventions from Nikola Tesla involve his contributions to alternating current (AC). It’s essential to note that he did not invent or even discover AC, but his inventions made AC applicable for widespread use, helping to electrify the world.

The story of how Tesla’s AC current came to be the dominant power system is impossible to tell without talking about Thomas Edison. In his early career, Tesla worked for Edison, whose company had developed direct current (DC). DC is similar to a battery, in that it only sends power out. The problem with DC is that the electricity loses power as it gets further out. That’s when Tesla developed his advancements in AC, which not only sends power out but also brings power back to the source. This made it much more feasible to send large amounts of energy over a large area.

Edison hated AC and thought that Tesla was completely wrong on the topic, leading to a rift between the two. While Tesla was unemployed, he worked odd jobs until he was able to raise money for the Tesla Electric Company. His work caught the attention of engineer and businessman George Westinghouse, who bought most of Edison’s patents involving AC.

A pivotal moment in the history of electricity came down to lighting the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. Edison and Westinghouse both submitted quotes with Edison saying he could light the whole fair for $554,000, while Westinghouse said it could be done for $399,000. Westinghouse won the contract, and after the fair, AC became more popular and, eventually, the dominant electrical system that we still use today.

2) The Tesla Turbine

Tesla developed his own turbine. It was bladeless and used smooth discs that spun in a chamber, and worked when fuel was combusted before entering the main chamber that contained the discs.

The combustion would make the disks rotate, which ran the engine. When Tesla tested the engine in 1909, it got 60 percent fuel efficiency, which is impressive considering that currently we only get 42 percent fuel to energy conversion rates. Yet because of the nature of business, people saw more value in the piston engine because of fuel sales, and it became the norm that is still in use today.

3) Tele-automation

Tele +‎ automaton, used by Nikola Tesla as the name for a radio-controlled boat.

In 1898, at the Electrical Exhibition at Madison Square Garden, Tesla showed off an invention he called “tele-automation“, which was a boat controlled by radio waves. He didn’t even have a patent because the patent office didn’t want to issue one on something that they didn’t think was feasible, but he proved them wrong at the exhibition. Tesla controlled the battery-operated boat, operating the propeller and lights through the radio waves.

This invention was a big first in three different areas. The first was remote controls, influencing the development of objects like television remotes and garage door openers. Secondly, the boat was also one of the earliest robots, as it was a mechanical object that could be controlled without a human physically touching it. Finally, the combination of robotics and radio control technology makes Tesla’s boat the great grandfather of drones.

4) Neon Lamps

While fluorescent and neon lights weren’t discovered by Tesla, he did make many contributions to the advancement of both. What’s interesting is that no one working with cathode rays, which are the electrons observed in vacuum tubes like neon lights, really came up with a practical application for the technology.

Tesla saw an opportunity and experimented with running electrical particles through gases, developing four different types of lighting. For example, he converted black light into visible light using a phosphorescent substance (which he created), and also found a practical use for such a technology when he created lamps and neon signs. At the World’s Columbian Exposition, otherwise known as the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, at his personal exhibit Tesla had neon signs that were unique designs and written words. The idea gained popularity and now neon lights and signs light up major cities around the world.

5) The Tesla Coil

The Tesla coil was invented in 1891 and uses two coils, a primary and a secondary, with each coil having its own capacitor. A capacitor, like a battery, stores energy. The coils are connected to a spark gap, which is just open air where the spark can generate, and the result is that the Tesla Coil can shoot lightning bolts, send electric currents through the body and create electron winds.

Tesla developed this innovation because he was obsessed with powering cities wirelessly. Today, the Tesla Coil is mostly used for entertainment and can be seen in places like science centers and museums, and some elements of it are also used in radios. The importance of the Tesla Coil comes from the fact that it helped engineers understand the nature of electricity how to use it.

6) The Induction Motor

An induction motor uses alternating current and essentially has two parts – a stator and a rotor. The stator stays stationary (duh) and uses electromagnets to spin the rotor that’s in the middle. Induction motors are noted for being durable, easy to maintain, and cheap to run.

In the 1880s, there were two people who were working separately on the induction motor: Tesla and Galileo Ferrari. They both presented their findings in 1888, with the Italian inventor Ferrari presenting his engine two months before Tesla presented his. However, Tesla’s patents held up under the weight of the evidence. Both had developed the same technology and came to the same independent conclusion, but Tesla had filed his patents first. The induction motor was incredibly influential and is still used in everyday products like vacuums, blow dryers, and power tools.

7) Tesla's Oscillator

Tesla's oscillator is a reciprocating electricity generator. Steam would be forced into the oscillator, and exit through a series of ports, pushing a piston up and down that was attached to an armature, causing it to vibrate up and down at high speed, producing electricity. The upper chamber of the casing had to withstand pressures of 400 psi and temperatures exceeding 200 °C. Some versions used air trapped behind the piston as an "air spring", increasing efficiency. Another variation used electromagnets to control the frequency of the piston's oscillation.

Why Tesla and his inventions were ignored?

1. He didn't fit into the American version of American innovation in history. He also was aggrieved with Edison and to tell Tesla's story you have to show some warts of Edison's. Marconi was not American but his popular story is easy to tell, he invented the radio. Nice, simple one-line story, with no other issues. And a large population of Italian-Americans who are proud to tell you this story and keep Marconi's memory alive.
2. He let his inventions be used for free. He tore up his contract with GE. He had the potential to easily be a multi-billionaire in the style of a Bill Gates today. However, he remained a sole inventor and genius who did not amass a deserved fortune or start a major corporation. If he had he most certainly would have been talked about in American business and investing history to this very day. This is also kind of tragic because he could probably have done so much more R&D if he could self-finance. Do you think Steve Jobs was a great innovator? Nothing compared to Tesla who came up with the real technological innovations.

The End Notes

We could be wireless before we were wired. With silence for the great man, ending this article. Hope you liked it. Please share it with others as much as you can. 

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