He swam like a duck, but also sank like a duck.

In his youth, Nikola loved to swim in the nearby river. On one occasion, he wanted to joke with his friends who were playing not far from him. He planned to dive under their makeshift boat and quietly emerge from the other side and scare them away. Nikola was confident in his abilities. He said that in his youth he swam like a duck. He was convinced that he could perform this feat.

So he dived into the water and, when he disappeared from their sight under the water, he turned and quickly continued to the opposite side. Thinking he was safe behind the structure, he tried to surface. But his head hit something hard, immovable and impenetrable.

He quickly dived and began to swim forward. He was running out of breath. He tried to surface again, hoping that he had bypassed the object that was preventing him from surfacing. Dum! His head hit the beam again. He couldn't go out. His heart was beating like crazy, he felt a huge pressure in his lungs where there was no more air at all. He knew that the next attempt was his last. He mustered all his remaining strength and began to swim forward again. He tried to emerge with his last strength. Dum! He felt his head hit solid wood again. He couldn't take it anymore. His head was spinning and he felt himself sinking...

At that moment, when his situation seemed completely hopeless, he experienced one of those unusual flashes of light. A solid structure above him appeared before his eyes. He sensed that there was some empty space between the surface of the water and the planks on the beams. In the last hour of composure, he swam out, pressed his mouth against the boards and managed to breathe in some air.

He repeated this procedure several times, as if in a dream. His heart slowed down. He pulled himself together. After that, he made several unsuccessful dives, completely losing his sense of direction. He finally managed to get out of the trap when his friends had already given up on him and were hunting for his body...

Almost drowned

Nikola

Dino

– Memories of his achievements make all my successes worthless. –

Tesla, as a small child, suffered the severe loss of his beloved older brother Dana. He always said that Dane was extremely talented, more talented than him. After his brother's death, he tried to please his parents in various ways. But his successes were not enough. They mourned their lost son for the rest of their lives. Because of this, Nikola was very insecure as a boy.

The image of his brother's death followed him throughout his childhood. In moments, she would become so terrible and strong that he would never be able to get rid of her. Then he started training his brain. At first, he would try to force himself to banish that unfortunate image from his memory by imagining objects from close proximity. At the age of twelve, he succeeded for the first time. Nevertheless, this technique worked, the first few times, but the trauma was stronger than desired. It wouldn't be long before the vivid and almost real image of his brother would reappear in his head. Then Nikola had to force himself to imagine another object in detail and the image would disappear again. But she would soon return again. The boy had to constantly imagine more and more objects to suppress the trauma. Finally, when he exhausted all objects and his native Smiljan, he began to imagine some distant worlds, cultures or people. Then the events. He would say later that these people from his mental journeys became as dear to him as those he met in Java. He would daydream and travel through his imaginary worlds all night long.

But at the age of seventeen, everything changed. Already a mature young man, he decided to direct his ability to imagine in detail into the creation of inventions. His imagination was trained. When the idea dawned on him, his incredible capacity for imagination was already so strong that Nikola could independently put together a patent and test its operation. That was miraculous. He could imagine different machines and their workings when started so well, that he could even see the mistakes in his inventions, before he even put anything on paper. After construction, the machines worked. After twenty years of work and more than a hundred patents, there was not a single exception. Everything that he imagined, started in his mind, analyzed and fixed, and then created, worked perfectly. He said: - Implementing a "rough" idea in practice, as it is generally done, is just a waste of energy, money and time. –

Nikola never lost. The trauma he remembered all his life was exactly what made him a genius. He directed his incredible ability of imagination for the betterment of the human race. He gave us alternating current, radio, laser, refrigerator and hundreds of other items that we either use or that were the basis of future inventions. Without Nikola Tesla, the 20th century would not have been a century of progress.

The mind as a driver

Tesla's family often told a funny story about Nikola among themselves. Namely, Nikola had two aunts. Both were elderly ladies, with wrinkled faces, and one of them had two protruding teeth. Nikola used to remember how those teeth stuck out like elephant tusks. They poked him and dug into his cheek every time she kissed him.

This famous scientist hated more than anything in the world when those two unattractive female relatives would pull him on and tease him, and the worst of the worst was kissing. Then he would wipe the traces of their saliva from his cheeks with disgust. That's why he preferred to run away from them. Everything about those aunts annoyed him terribly.

On one occasion, the aunts were sitting at the table drinking coffee with his mother Đuka and some neighbors. Đuka went to get Nikola, took him in her arms and brought him into the room. The very sight of the aunts made the boy grumpy. As if that wasn't enough, after the procedure of hugging and kissing, the hated relatives started teasing him. Suddenly one of the neighbors asked Tesla: - Which of these two elegant ladies is more beautiful to you? –

Tesla began to look at them. Thoughtfully, he looked analytically at their faces, measuring first one, then the other. Finally, he pointed to the one without tusks and said: - This one is not as ugly as the other one! - This caused thunderous laughter from everyone present, and it goes without saying that, from that day on, his aunts (fortunately) kissed him much less often.

that tetkama

Tesla, called the greatest inventor of the 20th century, created his first inventions in his childhood. For the rest of his life, he remembered his first and deadly invention.

Namely, living in isolated Smiljan, together with his friends he invented unusual children's games. During one of them, he had a terrible fight with one of the richer boys. Unfortunately for Tesla, that boy soon came into possession of the right fishing hook. Tesla's sworn enemy became the biggest dude in the village. The next day, all the village boys, following the one with the hook, went hunting for frogs. Tesla was not invited.

He was sad and lonely. He imagined what that hook all the boys were talking about looked like. Namely, at that time, Tesla had never seen a real hook and imagined it as something unusual, astonishing and magical. Having no one to play with, he decided to make his own copy. - All the boys will turn green with jealousy when they see his hook! And a hook he made himself! - he thought.

Somehow he got hold of a piece of soft iron wire, stuck its end on a sharp point between two stones, bent it into a semicircular shape and attached it to a strong rope. Then he cut off a stick, collected a bucket of insects, and went down to a stream where frogs were plentiful. He hunted for hours. But without success. He was almost discouraged. It suddenly occurred to him to hang the empty hook in front of the frog sitting on the stump. She was frightened at first, but soon her eyes bulged and became bloodshot. The frog suddenly inflated into a huge green balloon and quickly and viciously reached for the hook with its tongue. Nikola immediately pulled her away. It was his first catch.

He tried the same thing again and the method proved infallible. When his friends who, despite their beautiful equipment, did not catch anything, saw his bucket full of frogs, they really turned green with envy! Nikola kept his secret for a long time and enjoyed the frog monopoly, but after a while he indulged in the spirit of giving gifts. He taught the boys his trick, and the following summer was disastrous for the frogs.

The first invention

- Go and enjoy. The sooner you lose everything we own, the sooner it will be better. –

Nikola Tesla, one of the world's greatest inventors, never finished college. He was born in Lika, and attended high school, first in Gospić and then in Rakovac. As a nineteen-year-old, he enrolled at the Technical College in Graz. The first year he received a scholarship from the Military Krajina, but the following year the scholarship was absent, since the Krajina was developed. In the following years, he asked for a scholarship from Matica Srpska in Novi Sad, but it was not granted to him. It is known that he went to Prague in 1875 with the desire to continue his studies. However, there is no information that he completed any studies.

Living in Prague, depressed due to lack of money and without hope of finding a job, he runs into an even bigger problem. Namely, at that time, Nikola started going to Prague cafes and casinos. Sitting down and playing cards was the essence of pleasure for him. So, already poor, he began to lose the remaining money.

Eventually, due to gambling debts, he was expelled from Prague. He came home with empty pockets. His parents found out about his gambling problems and became very worried. Father Milutin led an exemplary life and could not justify the senseless waste of time and money that his son engaged in. But Nikola was persistent in his addiction. He denied it. He would say: – I can quit whenever I want, but is it worth giving up the only thing I enjoy? - Father, an Orthodox priest, would be enraged by such a desire for earthly pleasures. He would force Nikola to listen to long monologues about sin and punishment. Nikola would only get angry at that and the discussion was over.

But Tesla's mother Đuka had a different approach. She understood the character of man and knew that man's salvation can only be achieved through his own efforts. One afternoon, Nikola was sitting at home longing to play. Just before that he lost all his money. But the desire was incredibly strong. His mother saw her in his eyes.

She approached him with a roll of bills. She handed them to him and said: - Go and enjoy. The sooner you lose everything we own, the sooner it will be better. I know you'll get over it. –
Tesla's mother was right. His mother's words reminded him of a book he had read in his childhood. It was the novel Abafi by the Hungarian writer Josika. The work was about self-control. It taught how to preserve willpower and not fall into the scourge of bad habits. Tesla decided to apply the advice from that work. He later revealed that these tips were the theses he lived by. They read - decide to refrain from evil and do good, foresee the consequences of your actions, when you do something that is difficult for you, keep in mind those who say that you are not capable of doing it and lastly - what are the more terrible consequences that you suffer for doing something bad act, the more likely you are not to repeat that act.

Tesla never gambled again. In his lifetime, he created hundreds of inventions, and he gave the world one of the most important - alternating current. His mother's words helped Nikola, but also enabled the progress of the whole world.

Cooks Tesla

One winter evening, Tesla, Edison, Johnson and Batchellor were sitting at the table...

Tesla often received compliments at the expense of his good clothes and appearance. It is less known that all of Tesla's suits were made according to his measurements from his youth. Measures that have not changed. They didn't even need to because Tesla's weight didn't change even a kilo throughout his life.

An anecdote that happened one winter evening in 1885 is almost unknown. Tesla, along with Mr. Edison, President Edward Johnson, and Works Manager Batchellor went to a business meeting at the offices of the Edison Illuminating Company. Out of boredom, they started guessing each other's weight.

The owner of the company, Thomas Alva Edison, felt Tesla all over his body and declared: - Tesla weighs exactly 68.95 kg. On the blanket! - And he was right. Namely, Tesla really weighed that many kilograms. Without clothes, he weighed exactly 64.41 kg, and that was his weight throughout his life.

Surprised Tesla, he asked Mr. Johnson: - How did Edison manage to guess my weight so accurately? – Johnson smiled slightly and came closer to Tesla. - Come on - he continued, lowering his voice to an almost inaudible whisper - I will tell you, but in confidence. You mustn't tell anyone. –

Tesla was very intrigued. He encouraged Johnson to continue. The latter told him: - Edison was employed by you for a long time in the Chicago slaughterhouse. There he weighed thousands of pigs every day! That's why he hits the weight without any problems and precisely. Because he was a butcher! –

Tesla then gained a new form of respect for this unusual businessman. Respect, which will soon be completely buried in one of the greatest intellectual conflicts of the 20th century - the so-called war of currents.

Scientific butchery

How did Tesla and Westinghouse beat Edison in the electricity war?

Nikola Tesla arrived in New York in 1884 at the age of twenty-eight. He had a few dollars in his pocket and a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, who told him to try to get a job at Edison. The letter read: - Mr. Edison, I know two great men. One is you, and the other is the young man standing before you. - After reading such a recommendation, Edison immediately hired him in his company.

He promised Mladic a reward of $50,000 for improving primitive dynamos. The improvement would make them more efficient, although they would still produce direct current. Tesla worked tirelessly for several months, sleeping only a few hours a day. When he finally solved the problem after a few months, he asked for the promised reward. But Edison refused to give it. He arrogantly snapped at him: "Tesla, you don't understand the American sense of humor." – Injured and disappointed, Tesla immediately quit his job. That time was extremely difficult for the young scientist. He had no money, and in order to survive he had to do manual work. He would fix machines, and at one time even dug canals for the Edison company for two dollars an hour.

He was saved by Westinghouse, who really liked Tesla's idea of ​​alternating current. Together they founded the Tesla Electric Light and Manufacturing Company for the production of electric arc lights (arc lamps). Two years later, in 1887, Tesla started another company, the Tesla Electric Company, with a laboratory, where he first constructed alternating current electric motors. In the autumn of the same year, he applied for the first patents on the production and transmission of multiphase alternating currents and their application for efficient operation of alternating electric motors. This showed that alternating current is much more favorable and convenient than direct current. Edison was not satisfied with the sudden rise of competition.

A media war began against Westinghouse and AC. He disparaged Westinghouse in the press and sent letters and pamphlets to the media, politicians, companies and cities that wanted to buy his systems. His associate paid children to collect stray dogs around New Jersey so they could kill them with alternating current during a demonstration at Edison's laboratory. They connected calves and horses to electricity, which they wanted to scare the public and prove the deadly nature of Tesla's invention. Worst of all, they used AC generators to construct an electric chair and use it to carry out the first electrocution. Over the years, this media war was columned when Edison challenged Westinghouse to an electrical duel.

The duel consisted of Edison being subjected to high-voltage direct current shocks if Westinghouse agreed to the same, but with alternating current. Westinghouse, of course, ignored the challenge. In order to prove that alternating current was safe, Tesla brought photographers to his laboratory in Colorado Springs to take pictures of him sitting quietly and reading while current beams crackled around him. The opportunity to win this long war came with the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893.

A tender was announced for the lighting of that exhibition, to which several companies applied, including those of Edison and Westinghouse. Westinghouse won the competition, and Edison, furious that he lost, did not want to sell the bulbs to Westinghouse and Tesla for lighting. They found themselves in a big problem. But a few months before the opening, Westinghouse built a light bulb factory that, in the remaining time, managed to create 100,000 light bulbs needed for lighting. On opening day, President Grover Cleveland pressed a button that turned on the nearly 100,000 incandescent light bulbs that illuminated the city. The exhibition showed the clear advantages of alternating current - the fact that it can be efficiently transmitted over long distances with very little loss. These were the first indications of the fact that, thanks to the invention of alternating current, the widespread availability of electricity would change the world forever.

War of currents

 - I could recognize her anywhere. And she could find me in every place -

Tesla was a big fan of birds, especially pigeons. Ever since he was a child, he used to take care of sick birds and release them back into nature after they recovered. His obsession increased even in old age. He spent the last ten years of his life in the New Yorker Hotel in Manhattan, in room 3327. At that time, this hotel was the most New York building with its own electricity generator that supplied it. But Tesla lived modestly.

Every day he visited Bryant Park near Times Square where he fed thousands of pigeons. It was his obsession. According to one story, Tesla suddenly disappeared during a ceremony where he was about to receive the Edison Medal at the Electrical Engineers Club. The distinguished board and audience were waiting for Tesla to appear, but he was not there. A dozen people went in search. They found him in Bryant Park.

O'Neill, one of the participants in the search, said: – [There] stood an imposing figure of Tesla, wearing a crown of two doves on his head. His shoulders and arms were adorned with a dozen more, their white or pale gray bodies contrasting strongly with his black suit and black hair. On each of his outstretched arms was a bird, while seemingly hundreds of others made a living carpet on the ground in front of him, hopping and pecking at the birdseed he was scattering. Behrend wanted to rush in, chase the birds away and drag Tesla into the auditorium. Something made him stop. Such a sudden action seemed almost sacrilegious. –

After he was injured in a car accident in 1937, his legs did not serve him well. Then he would pay a Western Union courier to spread crumbs around the park for his pets. But one dove stood out. Tesla's friends O'Neil and William Lorens told a story about a white dove that Tesla especially loved. This is how he described it:

"I have been feeding pigeons, thousands of them, for years. Thousands of them, who would remember them all. However, there was one pigeon, a wonderful bird, white in color with light gray spots on its wings: he was something special. It was a female. I could recognize her anywhere. And she could find me in every place. I only had to think of her, to call her and she would fly. I understood her and she understood me. I loved that dove. And then, one night while I was lying on my bed in the dark, solving some problems as usual, she flew in through the open window and landed on my desk. I knew she needed me, she wanted to tell me something important, so I got up and went to her.

I looked at her and knew that she wanted to tell me - that she was going to die. And then, when I realized it, I saw light from her eyes - a powerful beam of light. Yes, it was real light, a strong, brilliant, blinding light. When my dove died, something was missing from my life. Until then I was quite sure that I would finish all my ideas, even though I had an ambitious program, but when the dove disappeared I knew that my life's work was finished."

The last patent he filed with the New York patent office was the most unusual of all the previous ones. And it shows how much Tesla really cared about birds. It was - food for pigeons.

Tesla died in the aforementioned room at the age of eighty-six. His ashes are kept in a spherical urn, Tesla's favorite geometric body, in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade.

Almost drowned

He swam like a duck, but also sank like a duck.

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