They Called Him the Man Who Invented the 20th Century

Before last night this was about all I knew about Nikola Tesla.

Then, I heard a radio show about him as I was driving through the rain-drenched streets of San Francisco and couldn't stop listening to his amazing history.

Born at midnight during a lightning storm (or so the story goes), Tesla began his career working with Edison, but their differing views on electrical current (Edison's DC current required a power station every two miles, but Tesla's stronger AC current could light a whole city) began a lifelong feud.

Tesla gained notoriety for hundreds of inventions, including remote control, spark plugs, radio, and wireless communications. With financial support from tycoon JP Morgan, Tesla began building his Wardenclyffe Tower - a huge transmitter which would supply unlimited energy worldwide. When Morgan heard about this, he exclaimed "If anyone can draw on the power, where do we put the meter?" and promptly withdrew his support, forcing construction to end. Sadly, the remains of the 187-foot tower were used for scrap metal during the first world war.

In addition to his fascinating contributions to life today, there's an eerie mysticism surrounding Tesla. He was very eccentric, obsessed with germs, celibate, spoke eight languages, would listen to radio waves for hours thinking he heard signals from Mars, and at the time of his death was working on a machine that could read memories.

Years after his death, during the Cold War, officials became concerned The Enemy had gotten hold of Tesla's writings for a "Death Ray" - a theoretical machine involving charged particle beams and enormous amounts of energy. Though so far the energy could only be manifest in a vacuum, the fear prompted the Star Wars initiative.

Want to know more? Me too. Here's an interesting short video. Click.