Nikola Tesla: Imagination and the Man That Invented the 20th Century

by Sean Patrick

This is the beauty of imagination. An unexpected dead end in one journey is merely an opportunity to set a new course for another. Losing what we have can only do us real harm when we feel we can’t create it, or something equally valuable or compelling, again, and that ability resides squarely in our imagination.

radiation. He formulated principles that led to the discovery of cosmic rays, and invented an “electric igniter,” or spark plug, for internal combustion engines.

In 1898, Tesla announced his latest invention: a way to remotely control machines with radio technology.

earth. He mistakenly caused an earthquake that engulfed the surrounding city blocks, breaking windows and shaking the plaster off of the walls. He announced that he had discovered how to turn the earth into a giant tuning fork, and that, in theory, the principles could shatter the Empire State Building or even possibly cause the earth to “split open like an apple.”

He found that the earth was “literally alive with electrical vibrations,” and that the entire planet can be “thrown into vibration like a tuning fork.”

Inside the tower was the world’s largest Tesla Coil, which was to be used to send powerful electrical surges into the earth.

The experiment was a resounding success for Tesla; his lightning “flashed a current around the globe,” proving that he could indeed deliver power to any point on the surface of the planet.

Through the transmission of ultra-low-frequency signals through the space between the surface of the earth and the ionosphere, he calculated that the resonant frequency of this area was approximately eight hertz—a discovery that was dismissed in his time but confirmed nearly 50 years later.

agreement. Nevertheless, Tesla chose to partner with Morgan, a decision that would prove to be the biggest mistake of his life.

said. “It has to have a grip ... so that the whole of this globe can quiver.”

“If anyone can draw on the power, where do we put the meter?”

Only months later, in 1904, the U.S. Patent Office stripped Tesla of his radio patents and awarded them to the Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi, instead. Marconi had used radio technology pioneered by Tesla 11 years earlier to transmit the letter “s” in morse code over 2,000 miles, which gave him no claim to the patents, of course. What did give him claim, though? He had the financial backing of Morgan, Edison, and steel baron Andrew Carnegie, all of whom held sway in every level of government.

and—in 1906, on his 50th birthday—presented a 200-horsepower bladeless turbine engine to the world.

method. It was Tesla, however, that proposed the use of radio waves to detect the ships—the first description of radar.