Geek Speak: Happy birthday, Nikola Tesla

Today, July 10, marks what would be the 156th birthday of Nikola Tesla, the geekiest geek to ever walk the face of the Earth. Now, most people know the name, but few people really know much about him or his life. And we all have Thomas Edison to thank for that. You probably also think Edison invented the light bulb. Long story short, he didn't. Many people were working on incandescent light bulbs way before him. Edison was then what Steve Jobs was to this generation; he was a businessman who hired people to come up with things for him, and then took the credit.

Tesla was one such person. He moved from his homeland of Croatia to the U.S. and went to work for Edison. Tesla solved a lot of problems Edison was having with DC electricity, and he offered Tesla a huge bonus to fix those problems. Tesla did, and then Edison refused to pay him. As a result, Tesla quit and went off on his own.

Tesla led a long and complicated life, eventually going completely insane and hallucinating. Before that, though, he invented or devised major advancements that we still use today. He made AC electricity viable, and is the reason we have a functioning electric grid that can power the world. He invented the fluorescent light bulb, neon lights, radio, and tons, tons more. He discovered X-rays, figured out hydroelectric power and came up with the ideas for radar, the electric motor, the remote control, the microwave and wireless communications. He also came up with a way to literally rain down electricity to power everything for free.

He moved to Colorado Springs to have more room for his crazy electricity projects (some of which could be pretty destructive), and figured out some pretty cool stuff. He proved the earth was a conductor of electricity and conducted experiments in wireless communications and the wireless transmission of electricity. This was one of his big projects during the course of his lifetime, and he believed it would be possible to easily (with low-cost upkeep) provide free electricity to everyone for every device forever.

Tesla moved his projects to Long Island and got funding for a project at Wardenclyffe Tower. It was his plan to use this to demonstrate the potential of wireless communications and electricity. He claimed it would allow for wireless communication, both data and voice, and for electricity to be discharged for devices to use. It could also transmit electricity through the Earth, to the other side of the planet, and he claimed he could pinpoint the location to place that electricity and determine how much energy to transmit. He had long-term plans for what he called the World Wireless System, which would be a series of towers like Wardenclyffe that would "electrify" the planet and allow both for free electricity everywhere and wireless communication from anywhere to anywhere.

J.P. Morgan provided just over half of the funding for the project, and, legend has it, pulled additional funding Tesla asked for after he learned that Tesla needed the money to use the tower to demonstrate this wireless transmission of electricity, and Morgan thought there could be no financial gain from free universal power. Morgan then worked to prevent Tesla from getting any additional funding and the project ultimately feel through without ever being completed.

Later in his life, Tesla made claims regarded a directed-energy weapon that could, he said, "10,000 enemy airplanes at a distance of 200 miles from a defending nation's border and will cause armies to drop dead in their tracks." That's a bold claim, true, but Tesla claimed he had tested a device, and said he would give it to the world in the hope that such a ridiculously powerful weapon would mean the end of warfare. If everyone could kill everyone else instantly, the risk of going to war is simply too great, and no one would. I believe he was mistaken in that hope, but it is a noble goal.

Luckily, he never put plans for this device on paper and instead kept all the information in his mind (yes, he was that smart). Here is an article contemporary with Tesla in which he discusses this discovery and more. And these are just a couple of the out there and highly advanced ideas he thought of and tried to give to the world.

He was misunderstood and way ahead of his time, and it took years, sometimes decades, for other scientists to figure out how or even what he did in some of his experiments. Some of the things he managed to do, we still can't replicate, like artificial ball lightning. He did some truly insane, dangerous things in the name of science, but it was all to sate his curiosity. I believe if he had been given the funding he deserved throughout his life, things would be very different today.

He hated Edison and the two worked to prevent each other from getting respect or credit for anything (this animosity is probably why neither ever got the Nobel). Edison and others called him misguided or wrong or just ignored his advances. He pioneered renewable energy at a time when no one thought it was a big deal. He worked to provide the world with free energy forever. He worked to stop all wars. He never even had a relationship because that would take time away for his tinkering and experimenting. He saw the universe in a way most of us can't even imagine. Everything he did was for the simple progress of science, and he pioneered the electric age.

Every single day of your life, almost every electric thing you use (we are talking computes, cellphones, cars, GPS, and just about everything else down to your coffee maker) would not be possible without his contributions to the field. Even the lights in your house wouldn't be possible without him. He was and is largely ignored outside the field and outside geekery, but he was a huge deal, and made advancements that made some of the biggest changes in our world and society possible. So take a moment out of your day and thank him for the world he made possible.