Tesla

I never even knew about Tesla until a few years ago when Mr. David Bowie was chosen to play real life scientist Nicola Tesla in the fictional movie, The Prestige.

Have you ever heard of Tesla? Besides the 80's rock band?

Tesla and Thomas Edison were arch enemies on the electrical front in the 1800's. Edison got all the credit but without Tesla the world would be very dark indeed. He recorded over 300 patents in his lifetime! He was the creator of AC (alternating current) while Edison created DC (direct current). Everyone knows we need and use both. Tesla studied wireless electricity and powered the whole town of Colorado Springs once. He also caused blackouts there. Tesla believed that magnets could be used for power. We are exploring that today He moved to New York, lived in a hotel, and one of his experiments caused the entire building to shake like an earthquake. Even today, scientists are trying to control the weather using Tesla's ideas. Who knows how far he could have gone if Edison had not won the War of the Currents.

Last weekend, I saw an excellent program on the History Channel called The History Hacker. It was all about Tesla and this guy was recreating Tesla's experiments. Did you know Tesla invented neon lights? In the 1880's? And here is an awesome Australian Tesla site with lots of photos (over 1300) of electrical experiments.

Tesla - David Bowie played him in the 2006 movie The Prestige