Nikola Tesla is the genius of his era. Strange genius nikola tesla Constant is good, variable is better

They say that geniuses are sent to Earth by Heaven. Each - with some kind of special super task. But the Lord sent Nikola Tesla, probably too early.

When will his time come?

New York, East Houston Street, 48. At this address lived a strange scientist, unsociable, with a feverish gleam of black eyes. There were rumors that he was "a relative of Count Dracula" and a vampire himself, he does not tolerate sunlight ... And they said that he created a weapon capable of blowing the globe to pieces. Nikola Tesla.

In fact, Nikola Tesla had nothing to do with Dracula. On the contrary, he was born into the family of an Orthodox priest. And he really avoided sunlight - because he often fell under the influence of powerful electromagnetic fields and his nerves acquired special sensitivity. The bright light hurt the eyes, the soft rustles sounded like thunder. But he could see perfectly in the dark.

Rumors of destructive weapons were also not born from scratch. Once Tesla conducted a series of experiments, studying the processes of self-oscillations. And suddenly the tables and cabinets in the laboratory began to shake. Then the glass in the windows rang ... Passers-by in the streets heard a strange hum. Buildings vibrated, glass poured from windows, gas and heating pipes, water pipes burst. It was the Great New York Earthquake. They say that the whole city did not fall into ruins only because Tesla turned off the devices in time. True, the official science claims that the experiment simply coincided in time with a natural cataclysm. But there is another opinion - the vibration of the earth was caused by the work of its installation. This possibility does not seem entirely incredible. After all, we are talking about Nikola Tesla!

Nikola Tesla, the greatest inventor, is undeservedly rarely mentioned in physics textbooks.

He discovered alternating current, fluorescent light, wireless transmission of energy, built the first electric clock, a turbine, and a solar-powered engine.

He invented the radio before Marconi and Popov, received a three-phase current before Dolivo-Dobrovolsky.

On his patents, in essence, the entire energy industry of the twentieth century grew. But this was not enough for him. Tesla worked for several decades on the problem of the energy of the entire Universe.

Studied what drives the sun and the stars. I tried to learn how to manage cosmic energy myself. And to establish a connection with other worlds. Tesla did not consider all this to be his own merit. He assured that he was simply acting as a conductor of ideas coming from the ether.

Constant is good, variable is better

The brilliant inventor was born in Serbia in the town of Smilyan on July 9, 1856. Already in his youth, Tesla looked demonic: tall, thin, sunken cheeks, gaze with burning eyes. From childhood, he was haunted by strange visions: flashes of light invisible to others. Sometimes for many hours he was immersed in the contemplation of some other, unknown worlds, so bright that he confused them with reality. From this almost madness, completely rational technical ideas were born. The young man was especially fascinated by electricity. That which cut through the sky in fiery zigzags and strewed with tender sparks from the hair of a caressing cat.

The father saw in the son a future priest. But against his will, Nikola went to study at the Higher Technical School in Graz (Austria), then at the University of Prague. In his sophomore year, he was struck by the idea of \u200b\u200ban induction alternator. The professor, with whom Tesla shared the idea, found it delusional. But this conclusion only spurred the inventor, and in 1882, already working in Paris, he built a working model. In 1884, Tesla set out to conquer America. To Thomas Edison - with a recommendation from a Parisian friend: “I know two great people. One of them is you, the other is this young man. "

Nicola traveled to New York with adventures. First of all, he was robbed. The traveler arrived in America hungry, without luggage, with four cents in his pocket.

And I was immediately convinced that this is a country of great opportunities: I saw people on Broadway trying to fix an electric motor, and immediately earned $ 20. Edison took the young electrical engineer into his company, but friction between the inventors began immediately. Because they approached creative tasks differently.

Edison liked only what was profitable immediately. Tesla did what is interesting. All the works of the eminent American were based on direct current. And here some Serb with burning eyes is talking about alternating current. Edison tried so hard to prove the danger of Tesla's ideas that he did not hesitate to demonstratively kill a dog with an alternating current. But it didn't help. Won - we know what. After all, alternating current flows through the wires in our apartments.

Free Son of Ether

The main reason for the gap was ... a divergence of views on the origin of electricity. Edison adhered to the well-known theory of the "motion of charged particles", Tesla had a different vision.

In his theory of electricity, the basic concept was the ether - some invisible substance that fills the whole world and transmits vibrations at a speed many times higher than the speed of light. Every millimeter of space, Tesla believed, is saturated with boundless, infinite energy that you just need to be able to extract.

Theorists of modern physics have never been able to interpret Tesla's views on physical reality. Why didn't he formulate his theory himself? Was he a spiritual harbinger of a new civilization in which the only inexhaustible source of energy will be the asynchrony of various levels of physical processes, that is, Time itself?

Open circuit

After the break with Edison, Tesla was taken by the famous industrialist George Westinghouse, the founder of Westinghouse Electric. In the process of working for the company, he receives patents for multiphase electrical machines, for an asynchronous electric motor and for an AC power transmission system.

And at the same time he is developing new, unprecedented ways of transferring energy. How do we connect any electrical appliance to the network? With a fork - i.e. two conductors.

If we connect only one, there will be no current - the circuit is not closed. And Tesla demonstrated the transmission of power through one conductor. Or no wires at all.

In the course of his lecture on the high-frequency electromagnetic field to the scientists of the Royal Academy, he turned on and off the electric motor remotely, in his hands light bulbs turned on by themselves. Some didn't even have a spiral - just an empty flask. It was 1892! After the lecture, physicist John Rayleigh invited Tesla into his office and solemnly proclaimed, pointing to the chair: “Sit down, please. This is the chair of the great Faraday. After his death, no one sat in it. "

Visitors to the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago watched in horror as a thin, nervous scientist with a ridiculous last name passed an electric current of two million volts through himself every day. In theory, there should be no coal left from the experimenter. And Tesla smiled as if nothing had happened, and electric lamps were burning brightly in his hands. Now we know that it is not voltage that kills, but the strength of the current and that the high-frequency current passes only over the surface. Then this trick seemed like a miracle.

This crazy inventor

In 1895, Westinghouse commissioned the world's largest Niagara Hydroelectric Power Station. Powerful Tesla generators worked on it. At the same time, the inventor designed a number of radio-controlled self-propelled mechanisms - "teleautomatics". At Madison Square Garden, he demonstrated remote control of small boats. People considered it witchcraft. Those who managed to visit Tesla's laboratory recalled with horror how the inventor juggled in the air with luminous bunches of energy - ball lightning - and put them in a suitcase. In 1898, Tesla attached a device to an iron beam in the attic of the building that housed the laboratory. Soon the walls of the surrounding houses began to vibrate and people rushed into the street in panic. Of course, these are the tricks of the "mad inventor"! Journalists and police immediately rushed to Tesla's house, but Tesla managed to turn off and destroy his vibrator. “I could bring down the Brooklyn Bridge in an hour,” he later admitted. And he assured that it was possible to split the Earth too; all that was needed was a suitable vibrator and accurate timing.

Earth-battery

At the end of the 19th century, a tower with a large copper sphere on top was built in Colorado Springs for Tesla's experiments. There, the scientist generated potentials that were discharged with arrows of lightning up to 40 meters long. The experiments were accompanied by thunderous rumbles. A huge ball of light blazed around the tower. People on the streets shied away in fright, watching in horror as sparks jumped between their feet and the ground. Horses received electric shocks through iron horseshoes. Even butterflies "whirled helplessly in circles on their wings beating in trickles of blue halos."

The "lights of St. Elmo" shone on metal objects. All this electrical phantasmagoria was not arranged in order to frighten people.

The purpose of the experiments was different: for twenty-five miles from the tower, 200 electric bulbs at once lit up. The electrical charge was transmitted wirelessly through the ground.

World communications tower

In the end, high-profile experiments in Colorado Springs destroyed a generator at a local power plant, they had to return to New York, where in 1900, on the instructions of banker John Pierpont Morgan, Tesla took up the construction of the World Station for Wireless Power Transmission. The project was based on the idea of \u200b\u200bresonant buildup of the ionosphere, provided for the participation of 2000 people and was named "Wardenclyffe".

On Long Island, construction began on a huge science town. The main structure was a 57-meter-high frame tower with a huge copper "plate" on top - a giant amplifying transmitter. And with a steel shaft 36 meters buried in the ground. The test launch of the unprecedented structure took place in 1905 and produced a stunning effect. "Tesla lit the sky over the ocean for thousands of miles," the newspapers wrote. The second tower - for the transmission of powerful streams of energy wirelessly - the inventor intended to build at Niagara Falls. But the project was costly. All Tesla's own money went into this pit.

And Morgan realized that the superstation was unlikely to provide commercial benefits. Moreover, on December 12, 1900, Marconi sent the first transatlantic signal from the English Cornwall to Canada. His communication system turned out to be more promising.

Although Tesla built the first wave radio transmitter in 1893, years ahead of Marconi (in 1943, the US Supreme Court confirmed Tesla's priority), he admitted to Morgan that he was not interested in communication, but in the wireless transmission of energy to anywhere in the world.

But this was not part of Morgan's plans, and he stopped funding. And when the First World War began, the American government, worried about the possibility of using the tower by enemy scouts, decided to blow it up. This is how Tesla's blue dream about the informational unification of the world collapsed.

Lonely somersault in the park alleys

After the failure of Wardencliff, Tesla sold part of his patents for $ 15 million. He became rich and independent. He founded his laboratory in New York. And completely devoted himself to scientific research. He wore expensive suits, was a welcome guest in any aristocratic house, brides from the upper circle looked at him. But Tesla avoided formal parties, and women too. Journalists dubbed him "the lone wolf" - for many hours of walking. They stimulated the work of thought. Nikola Tesla's obsession with science knew no bounds. He set aside four hours for sleep, of which two were usually spent thinking about ideas. "The technical solutions came to mind on their own." Tesla took patent after patent, inventions poured from a cornucopia.

In addition to electrical engineering, Tesla was professionally engaged in linguistics, wrote poetry. He spoke eight languages \u200b\u200bfluently, knew music and philosophy very well.

Tesla lived in the most expensive hotels. The servant was surprised that he demanded eighteen fresh towels daily. If a fly landed on the table during lunch, he forced the waiter to bring a new order. Today's psychiatrist would easily diagnose an aggravated form of mesophobia (fear of microbes). Tesla combined phobias and obsessions with amazing energy. Walking down the street, he could do a somersault in a sudden impulse. Or stop at the park alley and read a couple of chapters from Faust by heart. Sometimes he froze and stood for a long time, tensely thinking about something, not noticing anyone around. The inventor himself claimed that he could completely disconnect his brain from the outside world.

And in this state, "bursts of enthusiasm", "inner vision" and "bouts of hypersensitivity" descended on him. In these minutes, the scientist believed, his consciousness penetrated into the mysterious subtle world. Rutherford called him "the inspired prophet of electricity." Indeed, Tesla knew everything about electricity! It was he who predicted the possibility of treating patients with high-frequency current, the appearance of electric furnaces, fluorescent lamps, and an electron microscope.

The squares and streets of New York were illuminated by Tesla's arc lamps. His electric motors, rectifiers, electric generators, transformers, high-frequency equipment worked at the enterprises. Although Marconi received the first patent in the field of radio, many of his other applications were rejected, because Tesla managed to get a lot of patents for improvements in radio equipment. In 1917, Tesla proposed the principle of operation of a device for radio detection of submarines.

What the Martians whispered

Tesla did not patent many of his discoveries, did not even leave drawings. Most of his diaries and manuscripts have not survived, and only fragmentary information has survived about many inventions. And hundreds of legends. Tesla is also credited with the Tunguska catastrophe (1908). The Wardencliff Tower through the ionosphere may well have transferred enormous energy to another part of the world. And the meteorite was never found ... True, he left the project in 1905. But all the equipment was in place ... There is a suspicion that Tesla created a time machine, or something like that. He himself assured that he received his technical and scientific revelations from a single information field of the Earth. There the radio waves of his devices spread, from there he received signals inaudible to anyone. In 1926, Tesla installed radio masts in Waldorf Astoria and in his laboratory in New York. And he caught mysterious signals of a technogenic nature of unknown origin, one of the possible sources of which Mars named. In the newspapers of that time, you can find mocking notes about the connections of the mad inventor with the Martians. But the scientist himself was more than serious about this: "For the sake of this miracle, I would give my life!" Tesla also possessed other extraordinary abilities. Once he felt a strong desire to delay his guests who were staying with him, and literally by force did not let them board the train. Thus, he saved them, possibly from death, because the train really went off the rails, and many passengers were killed or injured.

Another time he had a dream that his sister Angelina had become terminally ill, had died. And it turned out to be true.

Eh, I'll pump it

In 1931 Nikola Tesla showed the public a mysterious car. The gasoline engine was removed from the luxury limousine and the electric motor was installed. Then Tesla, in front of the public, placed a nondescript box under the hood, from which two rods were sticking out, and connected it to the engine. Saying, "Now we have energy," Tesla got behind the wheel and drove off. The car was tested for a week. She developed a speed of up to 150 km / h and, it seems, did not need to be recharged at all. Everyone asked Tesla: "Where does the energy come from?" He answered: "From the air." Probably, today we would have already driven cars with a perpetual motion machine, if those - old - the audience did not start talking about evil spirits. The angry scientist removed the mysterious box from the car and carried it to the laboratory. Its mystery has not yet been solved.

Geniuses leave unnoticed

Shortly before his death, Tesla announced that he had invented the "death rays" that are capable of destroying 10,000 aircraft from a distance of 400 km. About the secret of the rays - not a sound.

It was said that in the last years of his life he worked on the construction of artificial intelligence. And I wanted to learn how to photograph thoughts, considering it quite possible.

Tesla died on Christmas Day, January 7, 1943. At 86 years old. World War II was going on in Europe, and Tesla's projects for the military department remained unfinished.

Maybe because he stubbornly refused the help of doctors. In the morning the maid entered the room - Tesla was lying dead on the bed. The body of the great inventor was cremated, and an urn with ashes was installed in Ferncliff Cemetery in New York. Thus ended the life of the most mysterious, perhaps, of all the great scientists.

Where did the invisible destroyer go?

In the pre-war years, Tesla began working on secret projects for the US Navy. This included the wireless transmission of energy to defeat the enemy, and the creation of resonant weapons, and attempts to control time. From 1936 to 1942, he was the director of the Rainbow Project - Stealth Technology - for which the infamous Philadelphia Experiment took place.

Nikola Tesla foresaw the possibility of human casualties and delayed the experiment, insisted on reworking the equipment. However, under the conditions of the war, there was neither time nor money for this, and casualties were considered inevitable. Ten months after Tesla's death, the American navy conducted an experiment to make the ship invisible to radar. To do this, the Eldridge destroyer created an "electromagnetic bubble" - a screen that would divert radar radiation past the ship. With the help of Nikola Tesla's generators. The experiment revealed a completely unexpected side effect. The ship became invisible not only to the radar. But also for the naked eye. Moreover, witnesses claim that they suddenly saw him in Norfolk, at a distance of hundreds of miles. For the people involved in the project, this teleportation was a disaster. While the ship was "moving" from the Philadelphia Navy base to Norfolk and back, the crew members completely lost their orientation. In time and space. Upon returning to the base, many could not move without leaning on the walls. And they were in a state of inescapable horror. Subsequently, after a long period of rehabilitation, all team members were dismissed as "mentally unstable". As a result, the project "Rainbow" was closed. And the results of the experiment were classified. Nobody knows what it really was. The author of the phantasmagoria, able to explain what had happened, was no longer alive.

Worlds discovered by Tesla

Only now are we beginning to realize the door to which unknown world Nikola Tesla opened.

The Kirlian effect, for example, was patented in 1949, and Tesla demonstrated the effect of an amazing glow of the "aura" of objects at the end of the 19th century. Half a century after Tesla juggled with ball lightning, Nobel Prize laureate P.L. Kapitsa. In the 1980s, at the experimental installation for the creation of ball lightning, I.M. Shakhparonov received a "by-product" in the form of magnetic graphite with unique properties. Moreover, the elements of the installation itself were the source of an unknown field that reduces blood clotting, improves the taste of food and even vodka. Today, the effect of strong magnetic fields on living organisms is really demonstrated in Japan, where frogs and dogs are sent to "weightlessness". In superstrong magnetic fields, animals "float in the air." However, people do not fly yet - the consequences of the actions of such fields have not been studied.

Some scientists are now carried away by studying the torsion field, and they are looking for information about it in the fragmentary records of Tesla. But there are few of them left.

Most of Nikola Tesla's diaries and manuscripts disappeared under unexplained circumstances.

Where are they today? What secrets do they contain? Maybe they are kept in the Pentagon safes and are waiting in the wings.

Or maybe, according to some biographers, Nikola Tesla burned them himself at the beginning of World War II, making sure that this knowledge is too dangerous for unreasonable humanity ...

See also the unique open collection of patents for inventions and technologies: Non-traditional devices and methods for obtaining, converting and transmitting electrical energy

Nikola Tesla's name alone exudes some kind of mystery and mystery. Nikola Tesla is a genius in many areas of physics. The name of Nikola Tesla is among the brilliant scientist and inventor Leonardo Da Vinci. Tesla's ideas served to create various systems, for example, they formed the basis for such now necessary things as the Internet, television, electricity, torpedoes. Almost flying saucers are considered just the invention of Nikola Tesla. His genius is incomprehensible. On June 15, 1903, at midnight, New Yorkers witnessed man-made lightning. And the events of 1908 are still amazing. It is difficult to say, is it true or not that the Tunguska meteorite is the work of Tesla? Many articles and, possibly, books have been written about the Tunguska meteorite mystery. But mystics can sometimes smile, saying that at this time Tesla was conducting his own specific experiments. He invented wireless electricity, radio, Tesla turbine, Tesla coil and several other inventions. Tesla managed to win Edison's "current war", proving that the currents approved by Tesla AD could somehow be unsafe. Tesla himself was terribly worried about speculation, and what he could reflect in his personal biography, which can be read if desired. After the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 and a number of other failures, in 1931 Tesla was nicknamed "a sorcerer and a black magician." Nikola Tesla managed to save one of his sponsors - Morgan. It was he who dissuaded him from sailing on the Titanic. Tesla could not dissuade his other sponsor, John Jacob Astor IV, from the fatal voyage. Then it was strange, how could Tesla know about everything that people could only guess about? The scientist's biographers refer to Tesla's phrase: "My brain is only a receiving device." "Tesla's method is to see the unseen through the imagination." Through imagination, the scientist could see those worlds that were inaccessible to ordinary people. The mysteries of the son of a Serbian priest still remain unsolved. But the fact is that his passion for inventions could have come from his mother, who, apparently, in the form of a lack of funds, had to save money and constantly invent something. Nikola Tesla easily turned fiction into reality, often shocking his contemporaries than pleasing, but nevertheless his success as a scientist was tremendous. I must say that Tesla was a man of his era - a man of the 20th century, and the scientist could share all his success, the tragedy of the century, his mistakes and miscalculations with his contemporaries. At the turn of the century, in 1900, Tesla's article "The Problem of Increasing the Energy of Mankind" was published, in which, in particular, Tesla wrote: "Electricity formed naturally is another source of energy that can become available. Lightning discharges contain a huge amount of electrical energy that we could use by transforming and accumulating it ”. This person, born on July 10, 1856, became the most brilliant scientist of the 20th century. Nikola Tesla's father Milutin Tesla served in the church. His mother helped her husband and raised the children. Nikola Tesla always attributed his success to his parents. “My mother was an inventor of the highest order,” he wrote in his memoirs. She constantly came up with something. Genes made themselves felt when the boy was 8 years old. Nikola was born in the now Croatian village of Smilyany. Tesla read a lot. At an early age, he could read such serious books as Ben Hur. This is what Tesla recalled: “At the age of seven or eight I read a novel called“ The Son of Aba ”. The ideas behind this novel are similar to those of Ben Hur, and in this he can be seen as the predecessor of Wallace. " And, as a child, after reading such serious novels, Tesla began to train himself. For example, a boy really wanted to eat a cake, but he gave it to another, more needy boy. At the same time, the little boy, of course, experienced "hellish torments", but he liked his sacrifice, and he loved to help others. “If I had a difficult task ahead of me, I pounced on it again and again. This is the whole secret of the success that I have achieved. " Nikola finished junior school in the city where his father was transferred in connection with the rise of dignity - in Gospic. In 1870, Tesla entered a real military school. As the scientist himself recalls, he had one path in life, one choice - to become a priest, like his father. But he had an almost painful desire to do science, namely engineering. By nature, his father was firm and decisive, and Tesla's genius could not have taken place if not for the tragedy that engulfed his hometown. Suddenly, the outbreak of cholera epidemic was borne by the whole family of the young man somewhere around 1873, when he had already graduated from his studies and returned home. Nikola caught the disease, and would not have coped with it if his father had not promised him that his son would study at the best educational institution in the country. Perhaps the desire to get into an educational institution of dreams and contributed to Tesla's recovery. This is how the scientist himself recalled it: “Just at that time a terrible cholera epidemic broke out in my homeland.

The people knew nothing about the nature of the disease, and the means of sanitation were depressing. People burned huge bundles of odorous bushes to purify the air, but they drank the contaminated water in abundance and died in multitudes, like sheep. In spite of my father's orders that were unobjectionable, I rushed home, and the disease knocked me down. Nine months in bed, almost motionless, seemed to drain all my vitality, and the doctors abandoned me. It was a painful experience not so much because of suffering, but because of my great desire to live. During one of the bouts of weakness, my father revived me by promising to let me study engineering; but it would have remained unfulfilled if an old woman had not miraculously cured me. "

It must be said that Tesla's father kept his promise and allowed him to go to study as an engineer. Having overcome the disease, the young man entered the technical school in Graz in 1875, where he studied electronics. Tesla had phenomenal abilities. In his third year, Nikola suddenly became interested in gambling, which in fact was an attempt for him to escape from life's troubles.

Nikola managed to win money, which in itself is quite difficult in gambling, but he gave money to the losers. In 1879, Nikola's father died. Nikola tries to help the family, and got a job as a teacher. Then he entered, not without the help of relatives, at the Faculty of Philosophy, but fled from there and moved to Hungary. In 1880, the future scientist, fulfilling his parent's will, went to study in Prague. At this time, he met with one person who advised him to do physical exercises. "He had tremendous strength," and "his body could serve as a model for the statue of Apollo." The teacher and student practiced daily. But Tesla, who loves books, quoted them by heart. One of Nikola's favorite books was Goethe's Faust:

“..A wonderful dream! But the day has already gone out.

Alas, only the spirit soars from the body, renouncing.

We cannot soar with our bodily wings! "

When the scientist uttered the lines of the great poet, he was able to draw up the scheme of the project he needed. This is how Tesla recalled this: "When I, immersed in my thoughts, uttered these words of the great poet, the decision came like lightning." The revelation that a man became an inventor made him very happy. “Archimedes was my ideal. I admired the creations of artists who, thanks to their thoughts, could give an unusual form. " In 1882, the telephone installation was completed, and Tesla "received an offer to go to Paris." At that time, the scientist visited Paris, Strastbourg and Alsace, bringing the materials he needed from Paris. In 1883, Nikola Tesla received an invitation to visit America, where he arrived in 1884. In 1884, upon his arrival in the States, according to a preliminary agreement, Nikola Tesla entered the Edison plant. As his biographers write, Nikola Tesla and Edison had friendly relations. It was, however, a bit of a strange friendship. It was in America that Nikola Tesla developed a modern electrical system. The work at the Edison factory was very hard, and the man had to work hard from 10 am the previous day until 5 am the next. One of the weirdest incidents with Tesla happened while working at the Edison plant. As Tesla himself recalled. ".. I was growing anxious about my invention ... once I saw Edison in the company of his ex-wife, and I wanted to talk to him about this issue, but at that moment some strange tramp jumped out and dragged Edison away." Tesla did not fulfill his intention. The negotiations were thwarted by some strange accident. When the contract with the Edison plant was strangely terminated, Tesla became an independent inventor, finding financial support from outsiders. But since 1888, he began some protracted litigation over patents with a number of people known to history or more or less unknown. Tesla lived in New York for over 60 yy. His addresses are in New York. For example, as the American biographers of the scientist write, there is even "Nikola Tesla's Corner" with his own personal sign on 40th Street, where he worked in 1900, at the turn of the eras. There is a memorial plaque for Tesla on Brian Park Place, and a park is also named after him, where he later fed the pigeons. A Tesla coil is a type of electrical circuit "used to generate low voltage, high voltage electricity." Today they are used in radio and television. In 1901, Tesla received patent support from Morgan to build his laboratory, the facility of which included the Tesla Tower. His abandoned laboratory can become a museum from time to time, the Nikola Tesla Museum. Fascinated by science, Nikola Tesla never married, nevertheless, he has many female fans.

Text: Olga Sysueva

He gave mankind electric light and hundreds of outstanding scientific and technical developments ... Who is he - this mysterious scientist? According to the rating compiled by the American Academy of Sciences, this scientist is one of the five greatest inventors of mankind. Napoleon's expression is applicable to a bright extraordinary personality without any reservations: "Genius people are meteors, designed to burn to light up their age."

Tesla holds a cordless gas lamp powered by the Tesla coil field.

L ord Kelvin wrote about him: "Tesla invested more in the development of electrical engineering than anyone else." William Crookes, whose name was uttered with trepidation as a young man Nicholas, wrote to him: "You are a real prophet."

Nobel laureate Armstrong wrote: "... I think that the world will have to wait a long time for the appearance of a genius who could become a rival of Nikola Tesla in his achievements and in his inspiration."

Rutherford highly appreciated Tesla's merits: “I am well aware of what Tesla did in various fields of technology. In my research I have often used Tesla's transformer as a means of generating high voltages. "

Nikola Tesla with a book by Roger Boskovich "Theory of Natural Philosophy" against the background of a spiral coil of a high-voltage transformer in a laboratory on ul. East Houston, New York

On July 10, 1856, Nikola Tesla was born in the village of Smiliany, Lika province (present-day Yugoslavia). He was the fourth child in the family, and it seemed that the usual fate of a rural teenager was in store for him, especially since Nikola's father is Milutin Tesla. It is appropriate to say: a born person is not a sheet of white paper on which parents, teachers and circumstances write this or that. Man is already born as a person. And his path is not accidental, he is determined by his own inherent purpose, and this is gradually, not immediately, he is sometimes aware of throughout his life. And if we do something else that does not correspond to our true goal (and we do this very often), things will not go well for us, or even we just get sick. There is an instructive episode in Tesla's biography that confirms what was said. His father predicted a spiritual career for him and strongly opposed his electrotechnical inclinations. He insisted and pressed on little Nikola, until he suddenly fell ill - fell ill with some incomprehensible and serious illness. When the crisis hit, doctors told the father that the child might not survive. He was melting before our eyes, and the father, heartbroken, abandoned his persistent instructions and, in general, was ready to do anything to make his son recover. Wanting to encourage his son, his father officially allowed him to go to college. And little Nikola, having received freedom, began to quickly recover in front of the astonished doctor's eyes. So he defended, without knowing it, the right to his own destiny.

78 Tesla's birthday. Hotel in New York

After the illness he suffered, visions began to appear, accompanied by flashes of light. Tesla wrote in his diary that strong flashes of light covered pictures of real objects and simply replaced my thoughts. These pictures of objects and scenes had the property of reality, but were always perceived as visions. In order to get rid of the anguish caused by the emergence of "strange realities", I focused on the visions from daily life. I soon discovered that I feel best when I relax and allow my imagination to drive me further and further. I constantly had new impressions, and so my mental journeys began. Every night, and sometimes during the day, I, left alone with myself, went on these trips - to unknown places, cities and countries, lived there, met people, made acquaintances and struck friendships and, no matter how incredible it may seem, it remains the fact that they were just as dear to me as my family, and all these other worlds were just as intense in their manifestations. ”To his delight, Tesla noticed that he could clearly visualize his discoveries, without even needing experiments, models, So he developed his new method of materializing creative concepts.Tesla very clearly distinguished ideas that are embedded in thought through visions, and those that arise through hyperbolization (exaggeration). Later, Nikola admitted that thanks to these visions he can "construct" anyone the device in your head and there to check its performance without resorting to any real experiments.

Tesla at the New York Lab (8th East 40th Street, New York City)

“The moment someone constructs an imaginary device has to do with the problem of moving from a crude idea to a practice. Therefore, any discovery made in this way lacks detail and is usually incomplete. My method is different. I am not in a hurry with empirical verification. I immediately begin to refine it in my imagination: I change the design, improve and “turn on” the device so that it heals in my head. I don't care if I test my invention in the laboratory or in my mind. I even have time to notice, if anything In this way, I am able to develop an idea to perfection without touching anything. Only then I give a concrete look to this final product of my brain. All my inventions have worked like this. In twenty years there has been no exception . There is hardly a scientific discovery that can be predicted purely mathematically, without visualization. Implementation of unfinished, crude ideas into practice is always loss of energy and time "...

Tesla laboratory in New York

In 1878 Tesla graduated from the Polytechnic Institute in Graz, and two years later from the University of Prague. In his sophomore year at university, in 1880, he dawns on the idea of \u200b\u200ban induction alternator. Professor Peschl, with whom Tesla shared the idea, found it delusional. But the professor's conclusion only spurred the inventor, and in 1882 a working model was built. Then he worked as an engineer in Budapest and Paris, and in 1883, at the age of 27, he went to work for an electrical engineering company in Strasbourg. A year later, he sells everything he had in order to buy a ticket for a transatlantic steamer. The goal is to conquer America. I went to see Thomas Edison with a recommendation from a Parisian friend: "I know two great people. One of them is you, the other is this young man."

Calorado Springs Experimental Station.

The station was a hangar 25 by 30 meters, on the roof of which was a wooden ball 30 inches in diameter, covered with copper foil.

Directly from the pier goes to Edison - "the king of inventors". He kindly listened to the guest. Edison was only nine years older than Nikola Tesla, but he was at the zenith of fame. The carbon microphone, light bulb, phonograph, dynamo and dozens of other inventions made Edison a millionaire. But all the work of the eminent American in the field of electricity was based on direct current. And here some Serb with burning eyes is talking about alternating current. Nonsense, of course, but you look, he will one day break out into dangerous competitors ... Scenting danger, Edison nevertheless offered Tesla a job in his company. Bring to mind his, Edison, DC generators. The American glanced at the young emigrant, but he readily agreed. Working for Edison, Tesla did not stop improving his AC system and in October 1887 received a patent for it. Nikola Tesla worked with enthusiasm, worked tirelessly: his working day lasted from 10:30 am to 5 am the next day. But his relationship with Edison, alas, did not work out. Edison, scolding himself about "an ungrateful trick", began to publicly and sharply criticize Tesla's generators ... interfering with letting me try my system at your facility? " After another controversy, Edison promised Nicolas $ 50,000 if he could re-equip the factory with AC machines. He was convinced that this was impossible. The young scientist successfully coped with the task: - he prepared twenty-four types of devices and in a short time realized his plan. But Edison acted like a pig and did not pay him a cent, referring to his sense of humor: "When you become a real American, you can appreciate this joke."

Experimental Station in Calorado Springs, 1899.

Edison's system used direct current, for which powerful stations had to be built every few miles. Tesla tried to convince him that alternating current was more efficient and less expensive. But Edison persisted and felt Tesla as a talented competitor. The genius of this young man really exceeded the dignity of Edison himself! Edison tried so hard to prove the danger of Tesla's ideas that he did not hesitate to demonstratively kill a dog with an alternating current. But it didn't help. The main reason for the controversy was the divergence of views on the origin of electricity. Edison adhered to the well-known theory of the "motion of charged particles", Tesla had a different vision. In Tesla's theory of electricity, the fundamental concept was the ether - some invisible substance that fills the whole world and transmits vibrations at a speed many times higher than the speed of light. Every millimeter of space, Tesla believed, is saturated with boundless, infinite energy that you just need to be able to extract.

Laboratory at Wardencliff in 1903 (interior restored according to description)
The laboratory consisted of mechanical shops and glass-smelting.

Until now, theorists of modern physics have not been able to interpret Tesla's views on physical reality. Another question arises: why did he not formulate his theory himself? Was he a spiritual harbinger of a new civilization in which the only inexhaustible source of energy will be the asynchrony of various levels of physical processes, that is, Time itself? Edison, who had thrown all his efforts into creating DC power systems, could not accept the concept of AC electric machines proposed by Tesla. In September 1889, Thomas Alva Edison came to Berlin. German electrical engineers wanted to involve him in the development of a three-phase current system and a motor, but the famous inventor recklessly declared: “Alternating current is nonsense and has no future. I not only do not want to inspect the AC motor, but also know about it "... After the deception, they finally quarreled, and Tesla found himself on the street without work and without money.

Wardencliff Laboratory since 1902. The tower is still under construction.

Tesla sold part of his patents for $ 15 million. He became rich and independent. He founded his laboratory in New York. And completely devoted himself to scientific research. He wore expensive suits, was a welcome guest in any aristocratic house, brides from the upper circle looked at him. But Tesla avoided formal parties, and women too. Journalists dubbed him "the lone wolf" - for many hours of walking. They stimulated the work of thought. Nikola Tesla's obsession with science knew no bounds. He set aside four hours for sleep, of which two were usually spent thinking about ideas. In addition to electrical engineering, Tesla was professionally engaged in linguistics, wrote poetry. He spoke eight languages \u200b\u200bfluently, knew music and philosophy very well. Tesla lived in the most expensive hotels. The servant was surprised that he demanded eighteen fresh towels daily. If a fly landed on the table during lunch, he forced the waiter to bring a new order. Today's psychiatrist would easily diagnose an aggravated form of mesophobia (fear of microbes). Tesla had no children and never had relationships with women. Nevertheless, his social and public life was in line with the secular standards of the early twentieth century.


Wardencliff's laboratory after construction. Constructed by "Stanford White"

On May 16, 1888, Tesla gave a talk and demonstrated his invention at the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. The generator demonstration shocked George Westinghouse, the millionaire and inventor of the hydraulic locomotive brake, in the hall. He was just about to build a hydroelectric power station in Niagara and was looking for a suitable technical solution for his enterprise. Having received a million dollars from Westinghouse for his invention, Tesla equips a laboratory in Colorado Springs and starts experiments. Once during a thunderstorm, observing the discharges of lightning, Tesla comes to the idea of \u200b\u200btransferring electrical energy in the same way. He understood this task as follows: "there is no need to transmit, emit and consume power as a radio transmitter does."

Wardencliffe Laboratory. Front view 1912

Tesla's range of research was very wide. He discovered the phenomenon of a rotating magnetic field, on the basis of which he built electric generators, invented a high-frequency transformer, alternating current and the first high-frequency electromechanical generators. Investigated the possibility of wireless transmission of signals and energy over long distances and in 1899 demonstrated lamps and motors operating wirelessly at high-frequency currents. Designed a number of self-propelled radio-controlled mechanisms. He studied the physiological effect of high frequency currents. Built in 1899 a 200 kW radio station in Colorado and a 57.6 m high radio antenna in Long Island. He invented an electric meter, a frequency meter, etc. Practically without Tesla's inventions, it is not possible to operate a single apparatus using electricity. Many modern studies in the field of new energy sources, space exploration, vacuum, high-frequency currents, the use of electromagnetic waves, and so on are based on his works. Nikola Tesla's discoveries formed the basis of modern electrical engineering. Tesla received a big name and universal fame when the powerful generators he developed were installed at the then largest in the world Niagara hydroelectric power station with a capacity of 50,000 horsepower. Suffice it to say that 13 patents used in the construction of this world's first power plant were 9 patents owned by Tesla. The richest people of the time participated in financing the project: Morgan, Astor, Rothschild and Vanderbilt. Even the subject matter of his patents is difficult to list. These are electric motors, rectifiers, power generators, transformers, fluorescent lamps, high-frequency equipment, lighting systems and much more. Tesla created the first samples of a two-phase alternating current generator and a high-frequency transformer. His work on wireless transmission of signals over a distance had a great influence on the development of radio engineering; he designed a number of radio-controlled self-propelled mechanisms, which he called "tele-automatic machines", developed the principle of radar. While working for Westinghouse Electric, Tesla obtained patents for multiphase electrical machines, for an asynchronous electric motor, and for an AC multiphase power transmission system. He discovered fluorescent light, built the first electric clock, a turbine, and a solar-powered engine. On his patents, in essence, the entire energy industry of the twentieth century grew.

The famous Wardencliff Tower

The 60-meter tower was designed by W. D. Crow so that any part is accessible for dismantling and repair at any time. It was crowned with a "dome" - a sphere weighing 55 tons, 20 meters in diameter, was the ONLY metal element. The entire structure was made of wood. The construction of the Wardencliff Tower began in 1901, but it was dismantled in 1917. In fact, the tower was never completed as Morgan withdrew funds for Tesla's project. Interestingly, Global Energy Technologies is going to build a replica of the tower, but only with donations from enthusiasts.

And finally, the most famous photograph of Tesla in the laboratory with sparkling lightning:

Inventor in his experimental laboratory in Calorado Springs, 1899

But this was not enough for him. Tesla was especially keen on transmitting energy over a distance without wires. He managed to achieve outstanding success in this area. So, he experimentally transmitted such an amount of energy over a distance of 40 km that it was enough to light 200 bulbs! By the way, this well-known Tesla experiment has not yet been repeated. Tesla worked for several decades on the problem of the energy of the entire Universe. Studied what moves the sun and the stars. He worked on the construction of artificial intelligence, wanted to learn how to photograph thoughts, believing that it is quite possible. (This does not mean thoughts, but the electromagnetic field of a person, called the Kirlian effect https://ntesla.at.uа/рubl/3-1-0-17 Patented in 1949 after the death of Tesla, who demonstrated it back in 1890 years). At the same time, Tesla is developing new, unprecedented ways of transferring energy. How do we connect any electrical appliance to the network? With a fork - i.e. two conductors. If we connect only one, there will be no current - the circuit is not closed. And Tesla demonstrated the transmission of power through one conductor. Or no wires at all. I tried to learn how to manage cosmic energy myself. And establish a connection with other worlds. Tesla did not consider all this to be his own merit. He assured that he was simply acting as a conductor of ideas coming from the ether.

Tesla's dream - wireless transmission of electricity

Learn more about Tesla's unique experiment. First in 1892 in London, and a year later in Philadelphia, in the presence of specialists, he demonstrated the possibility of transmitting electrical energy through one wire, without using the grounding of the second pole of the energy source. And then he had the idea to use as this only wire ... the Earth! And in the same year at the congress of the Electric Lighting Association in St. Lewis, he demonstrated electric lamps that burn without lead wires, and an electric motor that works without being connected to the electrical network. He commented on this unusual exposition as follows: “A few words about the idea that constantly occupies my thoughts and concerns all of us. I mean the transmission of signals, as well as energy, over any distance without wires. We already know that electrical vibrations can be transmitted through a single conductor. Why not use the Earth for this purpose? If we can establish the period of oscillation of the Earth's electric charge during its perturbation associated with the action of an oppositely charged circuit, this will be a fact of extreme importance that will serve the benefit of all mankind. " Seeing such a spectacular demonstration, such well-known oligarchs as J. Westinghouse and J.P. Morgan invested over a million dollars in this promising business, having bought Tesla's patents (huge money, by the way, at that time!).

Tesla turbine, initial view of the device

In 1898, Tesla's new invention was presented in Madison Square Park. In the middle of the park there was a pond in which a small boat sailed. The audience was shocked - the ship was moving, following the orders of the scientist. When Tesla jokingly invited them to communicate with his invention, someone (also jokingly) asked: "What will be the cube root of 64?" The ship's beacon blinked four times. Earlier, in 1891, in his laboratory in the town of Colorado Springs, Tesla designed a huge resonant transformer, which made it possible to obtain high-frequency voltage with an amplitude of up to several million volts (energy was provided by the El Paso company power plant). The scientist proceeded from the hypothesis that our planet is an excellent conductor of electricity, and energy can be transmitted through it over any distance. Tesla worked in his laboratory for 9 months and came to the conclusion that energy is best transmitted by "reflecting it from the earth and the ionosphere." The scientist calculated that the necessary frequency for this is about 8 hertz. This theory was experimentally confirmed only in 1950.

Tesla turbine, construction, modern look

During his life, N. Tesla made about 1000 different inventions and discoveries, received almost 800 patents for inventions. He invented in various fields of technology. You can also name an electric meter, a frequency meter, a number of improvements in radio equipment, steam turbines, etc. Without Tesla's inventions, our life now would be simply impossible. Tesla said: "I do not work for the present, I work for the future!" Many of Tesla's technical ideas, ahead of their time, were hardly perceived in America. So, for example, he built a model of a ship and showed how it can be controlled from a distance. Even after such a public experiment, he had to persuade the expert council to grant a patent for an invention for a long time. In 1917, Tesla argued: "It is possible to determine the location of a ship or a submarine using electromagnetic waves." This idea of \u200b\u200bhis was not taken seriously. And only in the 1930s the first radars began to be created in the world.

In his early letters addressed to friends, Tesla stated that while investigating high-frequency discharge, he “discovered a thought”, and soon they (friends) would be able to personally read poems to Homer and discuss their discoveries with Archimedes. This, as well as some other facts from the biography of the scientist, gave rise to a rumor that Tesla (together with Einstein, to whose works he was skeptical, claiming that energy is contained not in matter itself, but in the space between atoms) participated in the famous experiment " Philadelphia". (invented after Tesla's death, refutation and facts here). In 1893 Westinghouse and Tesla won a government competition (defeating Generаl Eleсtriс) to install lighting for the World's Fair in Chicago. On May 1, during the grand opening, US President Stephen Cleveland pressed a button and turned on several hundred thousand lamps, which, in the words of journalists, turned "night into day." It should be said that so far no private company has been able to implement a lighting project of this scale. During his lecture on the high-frequency electromagnetic field in front of the scientists of the Royal Academy, Tesla turned on and off the electric motor remotely, in his hands light bulbs turned on by themselves. Some didn't even have a spiral - just an empty flask. Then it was 1892! After the lecture, physicist John Rayleigh invited Tesla into his office and solemnly proclaimed, pointing to the chair: “Sit down, please. This is the chair of the great Faraday. After his death, no one sat in it. " In 1893, Tesla put on a real show at the World's Fair in Chicago. Standing on a podium in the center of the exhibition hall, he passed a current of two million volts through himself. According to Edison, even dust should not have remained from the “crazy Serb”. However, Tesla smiled calmly, and in his hand was burning Edison's light bulb, which seemed to receive energy from nowhere. Now we know that it is not voltage that kills, but the strength of the current and that the high-frequency current passes only through the surface integuments. Then this trick seemed like a miracle.

After the experiments in Wardencliff, Tesla stopped and, as if on someone's orders, abruptly cut off the experiments, leaving all the instruments and papers behind. He never appeared there again, went into the shadows. He lived for another 40 years, patenting something, but in small details, and from time to time there were mysterious rumors about his success: a car on gas discharge tubes; synchronous motor operating on gravitational waves of planets; power rays, with the help of which he destroyed some kind of crater on the moon; receiving messages from Mars ... The mysterious Wardencliff tower was eventually plundered, dilapidated, but never revealed its secrets. Evil tongues said that the reason for everything was the cessation of funding for the project, and without Morgan it was unthinkable to implement it. Whether it is true or not, we most likely will not know. However, something can be explained to us by the words of Tesla himself from his Autobiography: “Contrary to what the light says, Morgan has fulfilled all his obligations to me. My project was delayed due to the laws of nature. The world was not yet ready to accept it. " He was too ahead of the time in which he appeared. But those same laws will eventually outweigh, and the project will be repeated with triumphant success. Tesla did not patent many of his discoveries, did not even leave drawings (this, among other things, is to blame for the fire in the laboratory, which destroyed all Tesla's developments). Most of his diaries and manuscripts have not survived (nevertheless, the collection of records in the Tesla Museum contains several tons of paper - 156 thousand documents), and only fragmentary information about many inventions has survived to this day. He himself assured that he received his technical and scientific revelations from a single information field of the Earth. There the radio waves of his devices spread, from there he received signals inaudible to anyone.

At the very beginning of the 20th century, Tesla explored the possibilities of transmitting colossal energy through the air. Already in 1905, he patented the "Method of transferring electrical energy through the natural environment", according to the inventor, such a method of delivering electricity would be completely free for the consumer, no one could trade this energy. However, his wonderful plans were never destined to come true. Utilities would never accept free energy as it would break their energy monopoly. The influential financier millionaire J. G. Morgan, who financed both Tesla and Edison, monopolizing the world's discoveries in the field of electricity, closed his access to funds. But this did not stop the scientist. It is known that shortly before his death, Tesla announced that he had invented the "death rays", which are capable of destroying 10,000 aircraft from a distance of 400 km. About the secret of the rays - not a sound. In the 1960s, both the United States and Russia took full advantage of the fruits of Tesla's research. One of the technologies developed by a brilliant scientist attracted the most attention of military specialists and became the subject of secret developments. Tesla called this invention a radio frequency oscillator, it was used, in particular, in his death ray. The main idea of \u200b\u200bthe invention is the transmission of energy in the atmosphere and its focusing for various purposes. Later, these technologies, largely based on Tesla's inventions, were used in the Star Wars program. The urn is now kept in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade. The world will have to wait a long time for the appearance of a genius equal to Nikola Tesla, says the director of the museum, Vladimir Yelenkovich. The Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade is a real temple, as it contains his heritage, his personal items, about a thousand original photographs, more than 156 thousand documents, originals of his patents, drawings, manuscripts, correspondence, collection of orders, diplomas and medals, which he was honored. A large number of exhibits are working models, including Tesla's egg, a high-frequency oscillator, the famous radio-controlled boat, the forerunner of today's telecommunications and radio-controlled machinery.

The evil genius of Nikola Tesla

The previous scale of experiments now seemed to Tesla insufficient, to expand his research he needed even more powerful financial injections. The recluse was forced to leave the walls of the laboratory and pay a little attention to social life; circling the rich and famous, delivering spectacular lectures and keeping the press focused on his "sensational" research, he hoped to entice new respectable investors.

Up to a certain point, this model of behavior worked without failures - over the years Tesla managed to attract the funds of such influential business people as Alfred Brown, Edward Adams, and many others to his enterprises. One cannot ignore the figure of John Jacob Astor III, a Harvard graduate, original inventor and one of the richest people in the world. A hereditary millionaire, Jacob Astor could afford a special characteristic rarely inherent in the business elite - he was a dreamer and even wrote a fascinating science fiction novel. Controlling the weather, straightening the earth's axis, contacts with the Martians and space flights to other worlds - this is what occupied the mind of the tireless billionaire along with stock reports.

Tesla boldly presented to Colonel Astor the most enchanting ideas such as signaling to alien beings using a wireless telegraph, they fell on fertile soil and, over time, could bring a good monetary harvest. In any case, the Serbian scientist lived for many years in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, owned by the businessman, on very favorable terms, and also convinced the venerable colonel to invest some money in the production of fluorescent lamps based on his patents. With Astor's money, a scientist with no piety for the wealth of others was able to set up a laboratory in Colorado Springs and embark on experiments that challenged modern concepts of energy distribution, but had little to do with new forms of urban lighting. Tesla intended to use the ionosphere as a conductor and reflector of electrical waves. Colorado Springs, with frequent thunderstorms, was ideal for studying "standing waves" - periodic electronic vibrations bouncing off the earth's surface. The scale of the research grew, more and more funds were required to continue, and the money Astor had allocated ended sooner than expected.

Therefore, Tesla's greatest financial success for a long time seemed to be an alliance with John Perpont Morgan.

Tesla was preparing for the fateful meeting and was noticeably nervous - for the third time in a day he changed his collar, took a long time to choose a tie pin - discreet, but expensive and solid, took a short look in the mirror, remained satisfied and began to carefully put documents in a folder: copies of patents and court decisions, confirming the priority of his inventions, then selected for demonstration spectacular photographs - a laboratory in the light of lightning, sparkling fluorescent lamps ... He sketched out a calculation of financial investments and potential profits on a piece of paper - then he could hardly have assumed that the person on whose assistance he was pinning the most optimistic hopes , - will become his evil genius.

John Perpont Morgan (1837-1913)

A hereditary banker, educated at Harvard, never disdained ethically questionable transactions and acquired the fame of "the shark of capitalism" on speculative resale of gold, weapons and hostile takeovers. The Morgan mansion was the first in New York to be filled with electric light - the future founder of General Electric, by his personal example, promoted a promising novelty to the market - electricity. Soon, Morgan, an influential lobbyist, was commissioned to electrify Manhattan. Mr. Morgan was forward-thinking and confidently bet on the financial success of technological progress: he owned ocean liners, railroad companies, a publishing house, an impressive steel corporation - after the merger with Carnegie Steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie and the purchase of a number of small steel mills, the assets were combined into the US Steel company. The company survived the glory of its founder and today remains the flagship of the global metallurgical industry.

Unlike university laboratories, which were supplemented by grants and other financial donations from the mighty, Nikola Tesla never counted on charity. He quickly mastered the laws of the financial world, and now his business proposals always sounded with captivating persuasiveness: he asked for nothing. On the contrary, the inventor proposed to invest in shares in a joint industrial project promising large profits, and offered his own patents as a guarantee and security. So, in correspondence with Colonel Astor, he argued that investments in his patents bring the investor $ 150 per year for every hundred invested. How to spend the funds received from the investor in the future, the scientist decided at his own discretion, allocating a fair share for equipment for scientific research and providing his own "ascetic comfort" in the form of living in expensive and fashionable hotels.

How could a humble Serb intrigue a man like Morgan?

He chose two directions: cold vacuum lamps - they can last forever, since they do not have an incandescent filament, are simple and cheap to manufacture. Morgan could appreciate the profitability of the project at a glance - electric lighting had become his favorite hobbyhorse. The second direction was an improved wireless messaging system.

Exchange and banking technologies at the end of the nineteenth century were rapidly reformed, banks were enlarged, the efficiency of decision-making became a key factor of success, and it entirely depended on the speed of information exchange. The development of telephony and telegraph has made the problem of confidentiality of messages a strategic direction of business. Branches of financial institutions controlled by Morgan have woven the whole world like a sticky web, he needed a new secure tool for exchanging information - Tesla was able to offer him something revolutionary: wireless transmission of information across the ocean via radio, using continuous earth currents. Tesla's global style of technical thinking resonated with the global plans of the financier - the company promised a monopoly on a new way of transmitting information. Control over information flows all over the world!

A financial agreement was reached between the partners - on March 1, 1901, the inventor and the financier legalized agreements in the form of a contract, which involved the division of joint stock shares in a ratio of 51% - from Morgan and 49% - from Tesla. Thus, Morgan gained control over a number of key patents of the inventor - he needed a reliable guarantee, because the global initiative - the construction of a "transmission tower" in Wardenkpiff, a fashionable area of \u200b\u200bLong Island, cost money.

Question; what kind of money?

The local Long Island Democrat newspaper billed the initial investment in the building as one hundred thousand dollars. Could a Morgan-type man, reputed to be tight-fisted and practical, have set aside such an impressive amount for a communications project with the illusory prospect of “sending messages anywhere, even to Mars”?

Was the allocated amount sufficient and unique? When and in what form the investments came to Tesla's disposal remains the most complex and confusing question of the biography of a scientist; accessible and reliable financial information simply does not exist.

What real motivations could be hidden behind a veil of reticence?

The first meeting between the tycoon and the scientist was not documented, it was emphatically informal - potential business partners talked on Thanksgiving Day, at a ball given by the "steel baron" in honor of the engagement of their eldest daughter Louise. Before that, Tesla corresponded for a long time with Morgan, but persistently sought a personal meeting with "Mr. Money Bag", and only after the fateful meeting happened, the agreements were finally reached. For his part, Tesla was also willing to make concessions - for the sake of an agreement with Morgan, he significantly revised relations with his other key investor, Colonel Astor.

What was the magic password they told each other that very first time?

Biographers often refer to the project of the transmitting tower as the "Miraculous Grail of Tesla" and associate it with its most fantastic projects - controlling the weather and even the climate of the entire continent, transmitting messages to Mars and Venus, instantaneous movements in time and space.

Perhaps Tesla was ready to sell his soul in order to build and test his brainchild! And his devil was money, big money.

So, admiring the impeccable decoration of the ceremonial hall, sparkling placers of diamonds that adorned the toilets of secular beauties, Tesla expressed his gratitude to Ann Tracy Morgan, the tycoon's youngest daughter, who arranged for him to meet with his father, and waited for an invitation to the office. The doors, heavy as Morgan's walk, slammed shut behind him, guaranteeing complete confidentiality of the conversation.

Tesla stroked the folder nervously, settled himself in a high-backed chair, looked around at the pictures enclosed in frames - too heavy for a true owner of good taste, and enjoyed the coming finest hour. He can ask the King of Wall Street for any amount - without any limits - and provide him with the most reliable guarantee possible - a guarantee from the US government.

The state military order is a worthy guarantee of profit, practically unlimited, a great temptation that no financier, especially G.P. Morgan, could resist.