We know about people who work hard, put everything into a single goal, and achieved it. Plenty of them are our role models, but there is a man (NIKOLA TESLA) who was ahead of his time, made many discoveries, changed the course of history, and remained unknown.
How would you feel if you work your day and night, put your life and soul in it, despite all the odds achieve the prominent results, but never get the credit for it. I’m sure you’ll probably lose your mind… right? but there are a lot of personalities who have done extraordinary work in their respective fields but never got the real credit. some of them never got to see the happy ending. NIKOLA TESLA was one of the unfortunate. Not sure why that happened or who made it happen, whether it was because of political reasons or personal grudges. Mr. Tesla didn’t get a happy ending. Anyway, now it is our responsibility to do justice.
Let’s know the unknown story of Nikola Tesla PART 2
We are on the journey of the extraordinary life of Mr. Tesla. In the previous article, we covered his early life. We decided to divide his life events into 3 parts, one of which is already posted, and here is the second. This part will show you his struggle as well as fame. I hope you’ll like this one too.
FOOLED TWICE-
Mr. Tesla moved to Budapest, Hungary, to work at Budapest telephone exchange company as a draftsman in a central telegraph office. His hard work there paid off and he was promoted to Cheif electrician. During his time there he made many improvements in station equipment and perfected the telephone amplifier. Which he never patented.
Later Mr. Tesla joined ‘Continental Edison Company’ at a very low level but worked his way all up thanks to his extraordinary abilities. Then Mr. Tesla was promised to be given a sum of around 20,000$ for fixing the issues, Which he did fix but never got paid. He left the company.
The manager from that company who witnessed Tesla’s abilities persisted him to join Edison in America saying ” I only know two great minds, One Edison and other is you”. Mr. Tesla agreed. But again he did not get the chief engineer position he was promised. Edison hired him as a normal worker. but Mr. Tesla still shined. He worked double shifts to fix the issues with dc generators.
Edison told Mr. Tesla to fix or Design 24 different types of standard machines in return for a reward. He did complete the task. When he asked for the reward of 50,000$, Edison refused and said “Tesla, You don’t understand our American humor”. Mr. Tesla got fooled again then Committed not to work for Edison ever again.
THE REAL STRUGGLE-
Mr. Tesla left Edison’s company immediately. He started his own company ‘Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. Investors showed little interest in his company as he started to patent his inventions of Alternating current motors. After some time investors formed a new utility company and abandoned Tesla, Leaving him penniless. His company went bankrupt in no time. Mr. Tesla then worked as a digger for survival. He labored at 2$ per day. This went for almost a year.
He Quoted on this experience, “My high education in various branches of science, mechanics, and literature seemed to me like Mockery”.
Mr. Tesla besides his hardships kept working on his ideas. Then he founded ‘Tesla Electric Company’ with partner Alfred Brown. They formed a new laboratory in Manhatten. There Mr. Tesla developed an Induction motor that ran AC. At that time George Westinghouse was looking for some alternative for DC. MR. Tesla was then hired by Westinghouse for very large fees for his consultation and huge sum for his patents.
ANYTHING FOR SCIENCE-
Working with Westinghouse Mr. Tesla finally found himself in a better position. Better days for him started. His hard work and persistence paid him enough to live a great, rich life. “The war of currents” has begun. Edison tried everything to claim the DC system better, but the AC system continued to thrive. Edison electrocuted some animals in public (even an elephant) and also criminals who were sentenced to death. This did not affect the AC system a bit, Because the benefits of the AC system were far more than shortcomings.
Then in 1890 financial panic hit Westinghouse in the face. They ran short in cash as well as money. Westinghouse was forced to cut back his losses and expensive royalties. As result he had to ask Mr, Tesla to give up his contract in order to maintain companies operations. Mr. Tesla without wasting time ripped off his contract and signed his patents to Westinghouse company for a low amount. This kind act saved Westinghouse and his company and made Mr. Tesla rich and independent as well.
(It is estimated that if Mr. Tesla continued to receive a royalty from Westinghouse, he would have become the world’s richest man. Mr. Tesla had the contract to receive 2.5$ per AC horsepower generated. Mr. Tesla willingly walked away from a total of 12 million $ back then [ which roughly transforms to 300 million $ today ] to save his old friend and said, “He believed in me when I had nothing, now it’s my time to return the favor.”)
That shows that he wasn’t a business-minded person but was a True Gentleman.
GLORY-
The money Mr. Tesla made from the last deal Made him wealthy and independent enough to pursue his interest. Tesla formed a lab at liberty street Manhatten. Tesla became a naturalized citizen of the US in 1891 at the age of 35. Mr. Tesla also served as Vice-president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers from 1892 to 1894.
Mr. Tesla kept working and developed ac generators. He also received a chance to sit in Faraday’s chair and seep of Faraday’s whiskey. What a great honor was that. Nobody sat in that chair after Faraday. He also received great appreciation for his astonishing work in the electric field.
In 1893 Westinghouse Electric got the contract for building a two-phase AC generating system at Niagara falls thanks to Tesla’s advice. Mr. Tesla lived a lavish lifestyle for some time. Spent time with reputed persons.
I hope you are enjoying it…But, Like his extraordinary achievements and interesting life events, It is still hard to cover all of them in two articles. Soon there will be the next part (3rd part), In which we will continue the last part of this journey. If you haven’t read the first part click here. Till then stay tuned!
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