One of science's great unsung heroes, Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) was a prophet of the electronic age. His research laid much of the groundwork for modern electrical and communication systems, and his impressive accomplishments include development of the alternating-current electrical system, radio, the Tesla coil transformer, wireless transmission, and fluorescent lighting. Yet his name and work are only dimly recognized today: Tesla's research was so groundbreaking that many of his contemporaries failed to understand it, and other scientists are unjustly credited for his innovations. The visionary scientist speaks for himself in this volume, originally published in 1919 as a six-part series in Electrical Experimenter magazine. Tesla recounts his boyhood in Croatia, his schooling and work in Europe, his collaboration with Thomas Edison, and his subsequent research. This edition includes the essay "The Problem of Increasing Human Energy: With Special Reference to the Harnessing of the Sun's Energy," which anticipates latter-day advances in environmental technology. Written with wit and �lan, this memoir offers fascinating insights into one of the great minds of modern science.

Includes Tesla's autobiography, My Inventions, and the lengthy philosophical essay "The Problem of Increasing Human Energy: With Special Reference to the Harnessing of the Sun's Energy," as well as a series of lectures.

Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) was a forerunner of the electronic age and one of science's greatest unsung heroes. This book, which was written with humor and élan, provides unique insights into one of the leading figures in modern science. His research created much of the foundation for contemporary electrical and communication systems. However, Tesla's name and contributions are only faintly known today. The visionary scientist speaks for himself in this volume, originally published in a six-part series in Electrical Experimenter magazine. This edition includes the essay "The Problem of Increasing Human Energy: With Special Reference to the Harnessing of the Sun's Energy," which anticipates latter-day advances in environmental technology. Written with wit and élan, this memoir offers fascinating insights into one of the great minds of modern science.

Hunt's novel is a wondrous imagining of an unlikely friendship between theeccentric inventor Nikola Tesla and a young chambermaid in the Hotel New Yorker, where Tesla lived out his last days.

“The gold standard for Tesla biography.”—Science “Superb.”—Nature The definitive account of Tesla's life and work Nikola Tesla was a major contributor to the electrical revolution that transformed daily life at the turn of the twentieth century. His inventions, patents, and theoretical work formed the basis of modern AC electricity, and contributed to the development of radio and television. Like his competitor Thomas Edison, Tesla was one of America's first celebrity scientists, enjoying the company of New York high society and dazzling the likes of Mark Twain with his electrical demonstrations. An astute self-promoter and gifted showman, he cultivated a public image of the eccentric genius. Even at the end of his life when he was living in poverty, Tesla still attracted reporters to his annual birthday interview, regaling them with claims that he had invented a particle-beam weapon capable of bringing down enemy aircraft. Plenty of biographies glamorize Tesla and his eccentricities, but until now none has carefully examined what, how, and why he invented. In this groundbreaking book, W. Bernard Carlson demystifies the legendary inventor, placing him within the cultural and technological context of his time, and focusing on his inventions themselves as well as the creation and maintenance of his celebrity. Drawing on original documents from Tesla's private and public life, Carlson shows how he was an "idealist" inventor who sought the perfect experimental realization of a great idea or principle, and who skillfully sold his inventions to the public through mythmaking and illusion. This major biography sheds new light on Tesla's visionary approach to invention and the business strategies behind his most important technological breakthroughs.

Here's the Tesla collection you've been waiting for: 214 figures; 668 pages; and 107 articles, letters to editors, and lectures. All the famous lectures and articles that you'd expect are here, You'll also get his many letters to editors, commenting on Marconi, Edison, and many issues of the day. And if that wasn't enough you'll also get other articles that you've heard about but probably never seen. This is an amazing collection that will give you the most complete look into the mind of Nikola Tesla, who has been called the most important man of the 20th Century. Without Tesla's ground-breaking work we'd all be sitting in the dark without even a radio to listen to.

A myth-busting biography of Nikola Tesla, the “enigmatic figure whose life and achievements appeal to historians, engineers, scientists, and many others” (Library Journal). Nikola Tesla, one of the greatest electrical inventors who ever lived, was rescued from obscurity in recent years, restored to his rightful place among historical luminaries. We’ve been told that his contributions to humanity were obscured by a number of nineteenth-century inventors and industrialists who took credit for his work or stole his patents outright. Most biographies repeat this familiar account of Tesla’s life, including his invention of alternating current, his falling out with Thomas Edison, how he lost billions in patent royalties to George Westinghouse, and his fight to prove that Guglielmo Marconi stole thirteen of his patents to “invent” radio. But what really happened? Newly uncovered information, however, proves that the popular account of Tesla’s life is itself very flawed. In The Truth About Tesla, Christopher Cooper sets out to prove that the conventional story not only oversimplifies history, it denies credit to some of the true inventors behind many of the groundbreaking technologies now attributed to Tesla, and perpetuates a misunderstanding about the process of innovation itself. Are you positive that Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone? Are you sure the Wright Brothers were the first in flight? Think again! With a provocative foreword by Tesla biographer Marc J. Seifer, The Truth About Tesla is one of the first books to set the record straight, tracing the origin of some of the greatest electrical inventions to a coterie of colorful characters that conventional history has all but forgotten. Includes photographs

NIKOLA TESLA was a gifted electrical and mechanical engineer, and was one of the most influential inventors of the last century. Eventually holding over 700 patents, Tesla worked in a number of fields, including electricity, robotics, radar, and the wireless transmission of energy. His discoveries laid the groundwork for many of the twentieth century’s greatest technological advances. This book contains Tesla’s thoughts on humanity’s relationship with the universe, and also his explanation and scientific extrapolation on the technological advancements embodied in his work. This text, first published in Century Illustrated Magazine in June 1900, is yet another example of the genius of Nikola Tesla. CONTENTS Introduction • The onward movement of humanity• The energy of the movement• The three ways of increasing human energy 1 • The first problem: how to increase human mass• The burning of atmospheric nitrogen 2 • The second problem: how to reduce the force retarding the human mass• The art of telautomatics 3 • The third problem: how to increase the force accelerating the human mass• The harnessing of the Sun’s energy 4 • The source of human energy• The three ways of drawing energy from the Sun 5 • Great possibilities offered by iron for increasing human performance• Enormous waste in iron manufacture 6 • Economical production of iron by a new process 7• The coming of age of aluminium• The doom of the copper industry• The great civilizing potency of the new metal 8 • Efforts toward obtaining more energy from coal• Electric transmission• The gas engine• The cold-coal battery 9 • Energy from the medium• The windmill and the solar engine• Motive power from terrestrial heat• Electricity from natural sources 10 • A departure from known methods• The possibility of a ‘self-acting’ engine or machine• The ideal way of obtaining motive power 11 • First efforts to produce the self-acting engine• The mechanical oscillator• The work of Dewar and Linde• Liquid air 12 • Discovery of unexpected properties of the atmosphere• Strange experiments• Transmission of electrical energy through one wire without return• Transmission through the Earth without any wire 13 • Wireless telegraphy• The secret of tuning• Errors in the Hertzian investigations• A receiver of wonderful sensitivity 14• Development of a new principle• The electrical oscillator• Production of immense electrical movements• The Earth responds to man• Interplanetary communication now probable 15 • Transmission of electrical energy to any distance without wires now possible• The best means of increasing the force accelerating the human mass

"My Inventions and Other Writings" is a candid and illuminating autobiography of Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), one of the most important technological innovators of the modern industrial age. Famous for the radio, robotics, and wireless energy, Tesla quickly gained international notoriety for his pioneering inventions as much for his eccentric life. Perhaps no one in his day more thoroughly embodied the archetype of the "mad scientist." This firsthand account reveals the fascinating interior life of a genius. In it we see a prodigious man musing over the Tesla coil, magnifying transmitter, transformer, and the rotating magnetic field. Written by the brilliant inventor himself, "My Inventions and Other Writings" is a fascinating window into the principles and practices of Tesla's singular world. Tesla's public rivalry with Thomas Edison, with whom he worked early on, fueled his celebrity. Here we witness the art and science behind the conception, execution, and reception of Tesla's most fame inventions. "My Inventions" is a classic with appeal to Tesla fans, science buffs, and historians alike.