Nikola Tesla was an inventor and engineer who garnered over 300 patents in his lifetime. His most famous work, however, was the development of alternating current which laid the foundation for futuristic technologies. Here are a few interesting piece of trivia from the life of this famous scientist.
A lightning storm was raging when Tesla was born and apparently the midwife deemed it to be a bad omen and said “This child will be a child of darkness.” Hearing this, his mother replied, “No. He will be a child of light.”
Tesla was a man of wit and humor and he would indulge in funny correspondences with friends. For instance, he penned this letter to an acquaintance after dining with friend Rudyard Kipling.
April 1, 1901
My dear Mrs. Johnson,
What is the matter with inkspiller Kipling? He actually dared to invite me to dine in an obscure hotel where I would be sure to get hair and cockroaches in the soup.
Yours truly,
N. Tesla
Tesla was an inventor who realized the importance of renewable resources and even conducted research on how to utilize energy from earth and air. He was also a humanist who is described by Jane Alcorn as someone who “did what he did for the sake of the betterment of mankind and wanted to give people an opportunity to have a better quality of life. Thus, he never seemed to care about monetary gain and never had enough money for his research.”
Here are a few inspirational quotes by the famous scientist Nikola Tesla.
My brain is only a receiver, in the Universe there is a core from which we obtain knowledge, strength and inspiration. I have not penetrated into the secrets of this core, but I know that it exists.
Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I have really worked, is mine
All that was great in the past was ridiculed, condemned, combated, suppressed — only to emerge all the more powerfully, all the more triumphantly from the struggle.
Today’s scientists have substituted mathematics for experiments, and they wander off through equation after equation, and eventually build a structure which has no relation to reality.
Nikola Tesla
Invention is the most important product of man's creative brain. The ultimate purpose is the complete mastery of mind over the material world, the harnessing of human nature to human needs.
The individual is ephemeral, races and nations come and pass away, but man remains.
Nikola Tesla
The gift of mental power comes from God, Divine Being, and if we concentrate our minds on that truth, we become in tune with this great power. My Mother had taught me to seek all truth in the Bible.
But instinct is something which transcends knowledge. We have, undoubtedly, certain finer fibers that enable us to perceive truths when logical deduction, or any other willful effort of the brain, is futile.
Nikola Tesla
Every living being is an engine geared to the wheelwork of the universe. Though seemingly affected only by its immediate surrounding, the sphere of external influence extends to infinite distance.
Most persons are so absorbed in the contemplation of the outside world that they are wholly oblivious to what is passing on within themselves.
Nikola Tesla
There is something within me that might be illusion as it is often case with young delighted people, but if I would be fortunate to achieve some of my ideals, it would be on the behalf of the whole of humanity.
The idea of atomic energy is illusionary but it has taken so powerful a hold on the minds, that although I have preached against it for twenty-five years, there are still some who believe it to be realizable.
It is not in the shallow physical imitation of men that women will assert first their equality and later their superiority, but in the awakening of the intellect of women.
When natural inclination develops into a passionate desire, one advances towards his goal in seven-league boots.
Nikola Tesla
One may feel a sudden wave of sadness and rake his brain for an explanation when he might have noticed that it was caused by a cloud cutting off the rays of the sun.
Nikola Tesla
Deficient observation is merely a form of ignorance and responsible for the many morbid notions and foolish ideas prevailing.
Nikola Tesla
I [had] admired the works of artists, but to my
mind, they were only shadows and semblances. The inventor, I thought, gives to the
world creations which are palpable, which live and work.
Instinct is something which transcends knowledge. We have, undoubtedly, certain finer fibers that enable us to perceive truths when logical deduction, or any other willful effort of the brain, is futile.
Nikola Tesla
My project was retarded by laws of nature. The world was not prepared for it. It was too far ahead of time. But the same laws will prevail in the end and make it a triumphal success.
Most persons are so absorbed in the contemplation of the outside world that they are wholly oblivious to what is passing on within themselves. The
Nikola Tesla
...and led me to finally recognise that I was but an automaton devoid of free will in thought and action and merely responsible to the forces of the environment.
The by far greater number of human beings are never aware of what is passing around and within them, and millions fall victims of disease and die prematurely just on this account.
These are only new devices for putting the weak at the mercy of the strong.
Nikola Tesla
There is scarcely a subject that cannot be mathematically treated and the effects calculated or the results determined beforehand from the available theoretical and practical data.
Nikola Tesla
I am credited with being one of the hardest workers and perhaps I am, if thought is the equivalent of labor, for I have devoted to it almost all of my waking hours.
