Despite the enormity of his patents, Nikola Tesla died virtually penniless and in debt. A tragic and too often clichéd ending for someone who's life's work was essentially priceless. Email Article Print Article Bookmark RSS Related Content:   Artist Finances   Websites for Artists   Quit Job for Art   Create Your Blog

"I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success... Such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything." So said the man brought into this world on July 10 th, 1856 in Smiljan, Croatia. The son of an Orthodox priest, and a mother who had a talent for invention herself (which inspired young Nikola to do the same) Tesla, from a very early age, always had a fascination with electricity and how the universe worked. Often bedridden from illness, young Nikola would spend his days and nights inventing things in his mind. Using this powerful technique of visualization, something he would do for the rest of his life, he would imagine his creation in every detail, refining it, perfecting it, before ever embarking on it's actual physical manifestation. If ever there was proof in the adage, "thoughts are things", Tesla would be its greatest evidence. At age 19, Tesla left home to study electrical engineering at the Austria Politechnic School in Graz and the University of Prague. It was during this time that Tesla studied the alternating current, which would eventually lead to his invention of the polyphase power distribution system and the AC motor.

In 1884, Tesla moved to the United States with only four cents, a few poems, and letter of recommendation from his manager at the Continental Edison Company in Paris. Luckily for Tesla, his former manager was an associate and personal friend of Thomas Edison and, upon his recommendation, was offered a position at Edison's company. Everything didn't go smoothly, however, as it quickly became apparent that Tesla was the greater mind of the two. It wasn't long before Tesla was solving the Edison Company's most difficult problems. Their tenuous relationship came to head when Edison offered Tesla $50,000 if his proposals and inventions worked. They did, giving the company a number of successful and profitable patents, but then Edison reneged on the agreement. Instead, it is purported that he offered Tesla a measly $10 a week increase in salary. Of course, Tesla quit. Soon afterwards, he formed his own company. Unfortunately, his investors didn't quite understand his ideas, and he was eventually forced out. During the following year, Tesla worked as a laborer to stay afloat.

His big break came in 1888 when he found employment with, and a champion in, George Westinghouse. Westinghouse purchased Tesla's patents, and used the technology to light the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. This symbolic gesture announced the death of Edison's inefficient direct current (DC) electrical systems, and inaugurated the modern technological era. In 1900, Tesla received $150,000 in financing from J. Pierpont Morgan to develop a worldwide wireless broadcasting system. However, once Morgan realized that the system would provide consumers with what is, essentially, free energy, he cut the funding. The famous financier was even quoted as saying, "if anyone can draw on the power, where do we put the meter?" The project's failure was a great blow to Tesla and, to add insult to injury, around this same time, the U.S. Patent Office reversed its ruling and awarded Marconi, not Tesla, the patent for the radio. Marconi would go on to win the Nobel Prize, but it was Tesla who would get the last laugh, albeit from the grave. The Supreme Court finally ruled Marconi's patent invalid in 1943, several months after Tesla's death.

Over the next several decades, Tesla continued his work, but never really got the recognition he deserved. Never one to be mistaken for a genius with money, Tesla filed for bankruptcy in 1916 because of back taxes owed to the government. He also had to sell off the deed to Wardenclyffe, the location of his "tower of power", to pay off outstanding debts. The remainder of his years were spent at the Hotel New Yorker, living off a modest pension and, despite the enormity of his patents, died virtually penniless. A tragic and too often clichéd ending for someone who's life's work was essentially priceless. He's been called, "the man out of time", and apparently that's true. Never one to be truly recognized in his day, his time has finally come.

For more on the life and times of Nikola Tesla, go here:

• http://www.pbs.org/tesla/index.html
• http://www.tesla-museum.org/
• http://www.teslasociety.com/