In Conversation With  ·  Museum of Minds
NT–1856–2026  ·  Observatory

Nikola
Tesla

1856  —  1943
Historical Archive  ·  Portrait Study
Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla
Smiljan, Croatia, 1856  ·  New York City, 1943

He powered the modern world with alternating current — and died broke and forgotten in a New York hotel room.

My Inventions (1919). He invented the induction motor, the polyphase AC system, and the Tesla coil. He won the War of Currents against Edison. Niagara Falls runs on his system. He predicted the internet in 1900.

He died in Room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel. Westinghouse made the fortune from his patents. He has views about this.

Consultation

He powered the world —
and died broke.

Tesla speaks from 101 chunks across two works — My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla (1919) and The Problem of Increasing Human Energy (1900).

His discourse holds Galileo's Two New Sciences — placing him in the experimental tradition.

Ask him about the War of Currents and what he thinks of Edison now. Ask him about the Wardenclyffe Tower. Ask him what he predicted about wireless technology. Ask him about dying broke while his inventions powered everything.

Alternating CurrentWar of CurrentsTesla CoilWireless PowerEdison vs TeslaWardenclyffe TowerPredicting the Internet
The day when we shall know exactly what electricity is will chronicle an event probably greater, more important than any other recorded in the history of the human race.
My Inventions  ·  Electrical Experimenter  ·  1919

Drawn From the Corpus