Tesla- The Unknown Man Who Began the Modernization of America

Nikola Tesla invented many things essential to day-to-day modern living, including AC electricity, the fluorescent light bulb, the odometer, the hydroelectric generator and the radio. Unfortunately, the only modern ties of these inventions to Tesla are in the Patent Office because Tesla never viewed his inventions as profitable. Tesla was a revolutionary thinker, but he was unsociable and lacked the ability to complete or make profit off of most of his inventions.

Nikola Tesla grew up in a household defined by the death of Tesla's brother. In his autobiography, Tesla wrote, "In the first place I had a brother who was gifted to an extraordinary degree'…'His premature death left my parents disconsolate." (Tesla 28). Upon this tragic death, Tesla became socially withdrawn, as he would remain the rest of his life. Tesla then had no one to feel inferior toward in his family, and even a feeling that he must help his parents by compensating for the lost talent in his family. "Anything I did that was creditable merely caused my parents to feel their loss more keenly. So I grew up with little confidence in myself." (Tesla 28). At that age Tesla learned to expect no gratification or rewards for his work, which became a major problem for him when he began to enter the business world. This also taught Tesla to be independent of bosses, encouraging him to be self-sustaining. This was the beginning of a life of isolation and mental instability for Nikola Tesla.

Though Tesla did not have the backing of his parents for a career in engineering, Tesla obviously had the skills to make him an impeccable inventor. "I longed to be an engineer but my father was unflexible." (Tesla 29). Tesla not only could not make his parents proud, but they openly disapproved of his plans in life, encouraging Tesla to continue his isolation both socially and emotionally. It is curious to point out that if Tesla had listened to his father the world would be drastically different today.  Tesla also wrote, "In my boyhood I suffered from a peculiar affliction due to the appearance of objects…" (Tesla 31). "Then I observed to my delight that I could visualize with the greatest facility." (Tesla 33). Being able to control these visions meant that Tesla had gained the ability to construct plans for inventions in his mind without the need to record them until a patent was needed. This ability left no need for Tesla to work on his ideas with other engineers, even making sharing his ideas with others a nuisance. Tesla had the determination to become an inventor and the skills needed to make him thrive.           

Nikola Tesla became famous in the media during his "Battle of the Currents" with Thomas Edison, but he was very socially withdrawn in his private life. "Tesla was a great showman and a favorite of newspaper reporters who sought sensational copy" (Carlson 80). Tesla could entertain a crowd of reporters, but he never socialized privately with anyone outside of work. Tesla was forced to grow up with a façade of happiness due to his parents' troubles, which he then used in the media to display confidence while speaking, even though he was often in financial trouble. "I counted the steps in my walks and calculated the cubical contents of my soup plates, coffee cups, and pieces of food- otherwise my meal was unenjoyable." (Tesla 37). Though whether Tesla had obsessive compulsive disorder was not recorded, the afflictions he had kept him away from other people. Tesla was a savant with amazing mind power, resulting in him viewing the world around him uniquely. It is curious that Tesla could conquer the visions he experienced as a child and overcame many addictions to drugs, but he was never able to overcome seemingly simple afflictions like doing actions in triplets.

Nikola Tesla was extremely smart, but he did not stand up for himself and he was a poor business man. "The manager [of the Edison Electric Light Company] had promised me fifty thousand dollars on the completion of this task but it turned out to be a practical joke. This gave me a painful shock and I resigned my position!" (Tesla 72). This was one of Tesla's first experiences in the business world, and Tesla's overwhelming trust and lack of assertiveness made him easy prey for businessman. This event demolished Tesla's trust in others, so he then began to work alone as an independent business. "Tesla had a profound idealism that only occasionally reached practical reality." (Carlson 80). Tesla had many incomplete ideas, some of which were considered neurotic exclamations to get media attention, but some of Tesla's ideas are being validated by scientists today. That may mean that, given more time and money, Tesla may have been able to prove these ideas that existed only in his head. Tesla's major flaw was that he would only prove the concept, he would never perfect a design or make money off of it, leaving Tesla to die with empty pockets and others obtaining fame from Tesla's work.

"Otis Pond, an engineer then working for Tesla, said, 'Looks as if Marconi got the jump on you.' Tesla replied, 'Marconi is a good fellow. Let him continue. He is using seventeen of my patents.' " (PBS)

This quote is indicative of Tesla's mindset as an inventor, not a businessman. Tesla left his inventions to others, and, though he hinted at having invented the technology before Marconi, Tesla never did anything about the patent infringement. Most people today know nothing of Tesla because he created ideas and left the work of creating revolutionary products to others. Unfortunately, Marconi made millions of dollars off of Tesla's invention until Marconi lost his patent on the radio in the 1943 Supreme Court Case Marconi Wireless T. Company vs. the United States months after Tesla's death. Marconi began the lawsuit by suing the government for infringing on his patents; Tesla was uninvolved. If Tesla had focused on quality rather than quantity, he may have been remembered today as a wealthy man who modernized America, rather than the unknown man whose ideas began the modernization of America.

 

Works Cited

Carlson, W. Bernard. "Inventor of Dreams." Scientific American Mar. 2005: 79-85.

Tesla, Nikola. My Inventions. 1919. Ed. Ben Johnston. Austin: Hart Brothers, 1982. 28, 29, 31, 36, 72.

"Who Invented Radio?" PBS. 19 Oct. 2006 <http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/ll_whoradio.html>. 

 

Mythbusters: A formerly great show.

Mythbusters used to be an entertaining and even educational show, but it has lost its roots and it has ventured outside the realm of "myths" and meanwhile has seemed to forget that those performing the tests are stunt men, not reputed scientists.

Mythbusters used to pride itself on testing myths, but seems to have abandoned this base in favor of moving to such subjects as oddities. It seems more and more that the testing of their purported myths has become second priority to simply using the most explosives possible. Rather than thoroughly testing each myth, they focus on a climactic single test that does not sufficiently measure different variables. They present their work as science, yet they have no grasp of the concept of analytical thinking. I believe that the turning point for Mythbusters was when they tested one of the inventions of Nikola Tesla. I believe that they referred to the device they aimed to replicate as the "earthquake machine", and they concluded that it was not possible. Little did the viewing audience know, Tesla was a prophetic savant whose inventions changed the world. He invented things such as AC electricity, the radio (the 1943 US Supreme Court case Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company v. the United States overturned Marconi's patents on the radio in favor of Tesla's), X-Ray, robotics and neon lights. Tesla has an international airport named after him and to this day holds the record for the largest man-made lightening bolt, but somehow two stuntmen feel that they can overturn his legacy with incomplete and imprecise tests. While using recycled junk they have laying around their shop, they present their findings as if they were found using scientific and precise instruments. They falsely assume that if they can not replicate a circumstance with their imprecise machinery that it is completely and utterly impossible.

Overall, Mythbusters should go back to the realm of "myths" and avoid tarnishing the esteemed reputation of the real scientific community.

-P. I. Lumen

Grammar Still Matters!

The English language has been viciously abused in the United States. This is prevalent in innumerable areas in our lives and cultures. The adverb has been utterly forgotten, Technology has encouraged laziness and insolence, and our upcoming generation has no stimulation to improve their vacuous ways.

A friend once told me "I'm not doing good in Spanish class". I replied, "Maybe you should focus on learning English first." The adverb is an important part of the English language, but it is utterly forgotten in our modern world. An adverb is a word which modifies an adjective, a verb or another adverb. As an example, dogs run quickly. Dogs do not run fast. Also, I am not doing good, I am doing well. It is a relatively simple concept, but numerous Americans have ignored the existence of this vast set of words. When a teacher says, "Do good on this test!" I cringe in pain, hoping that he or she can successfully teach complex subjects when not even able to practice basic grammar.  It seems as if a whole sect of our language has experienced somewhat of a genocide and has completely disappeared. Perhaps this is a plan Al-Qaeda, or perhaps this is a part of the legacy of George W. Bush. Regardless of the cause, we as Americans must fervently break from the norm and revive the usage of these essential words. The next time someone asks you, "How are you doing?", dare to be different and reply "Well"; prove that you are not a Joe Schmoe. All are fallible in terms of grammar, but we must not be ignorant. 

I cringe when I receive a message online that reads something like, "r u gonna? okayy. omg! ur pic suks! jk jk, lol." Has the person who sent the message failed to pass the first grade? Did their computer throw up in their message? Are my eyes going bad? No. Actually, the person is just lazy and impudent. When confronted with this type of message, I usually conclude that the person doesn't value me enough to waste time typing out whole words and complete thoughts. As a result, I don't bother to waste time responding. This is just casual messaging, but what happens when these types of people who lack the basic and essential ability to communicate enter the business world? In an age with intrinsic spell check programs on computers, people have no excuse to communicate so poorly. It is debilitating to me when I see advertisements for businesses that have obvious errors in spelling or grammar. It befuddles me that people have begun to use abbreviations such as "lol" in daily verbal conversation. These communication problems will only get worse, as our "future leaders", the teenagers, religiously use websites such as Facebook or Myspace on which a complete and proper sentence seems sinful. Languages were developed to allow effective communication, and we must unequivocally aim to communicate effectively with them.

In conclusion, I hope that you reserve "@" for your email address, that you pay attention to spell check, and that you dare to conduct yourself differently.

-P. I. Lumen

Brouhaha!

Brouhaha.
What a fun word.
In fact, one of my favorite words.
When I first heard the word, I thought someone was inventing it to fit the mood of their speech. Brouhaha is in the dictionary, but some classify it as an onomatopoeia, so I guess that my initial reaction to the word must not have been too far off. 
My friends and I all have a mild infatuation with the word, compliments of our History teacher, so now we play somewhat of a "Where's Waldo?" game with the word. I was ecstatic after seeing the word used in Time Magazine last week. I paraded the issue, showing it off to my quirky friends as if it were some kind of trophy, all because of one single word. The article, being from Time, wasn't the best, but that single word made it phenomenal.
If you have any other favorite words, feel free to post them for the edification of all.

-P. I. Lumen

Hello

Hello World.

No, it's not a program, it's a salutation. 

Now time to think of something to write about. . . Wow, that was easy. Time for the hard part. Picking which of these many subjects to write about.