Stories about Nikola Tesla, I guess
date: 2025-12-06
tag: Nikola Tesla, article
"visionary Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, and futurist" -wikipedia
that is what he is well known for, but do you notice that his hair look just like a flow of electric current?
today Imma cover some of his story that might surprise you. Disclaimer, take everything I wrote with a ton of salt.
Born in Lightning Storm
Its said that Nikola Tesla was born during a fierce lightning storm, the midwife said "this is a bad omen, he is the child of darkness" in which the mother, Duka said "no, he will be the child of light", kinda foreshadowing his future. Maybe getting born in a lightning storm will super-charged our brain?
Is it really The Horse that killed Tesla's brother?
While researching for this blog, I find an interesting theory, the thing is Tesla have a big bro, Dane, who died because he fall off a horse, but is it? the theory was Tesla push Dane from the stairs while child playing and Dane died at the age of 11-12.
link to the theory.
in JOJO part 7, steel ball run, the main protagonist Johnny Joestar also have a brother name Nicholas Joestar who died of also a horse accident, maybe its just coincidence that this 2 story are similiar, or is it? *Vsauce doubt
A $50,000 joke
While Tesla working for Edison, A manager at Edison's company offered him a $50,000 bonus if he could upgrade some machines that ran on DC . After finishing the task, the manager refuse to pay, Edison told him "you dont understand our american humor", and of course after that Tesla quit.
$50,000 dollars at that time convert about ~$1,400,000 nowaday.
maybe he changed all the machines that run on DC to AC and Edison didnt like that?
Fail Startup
After leaving Edison, Tesla made his own company in 1885, the investors is not interested in Tesla so they kick him out of the company and took all of his patents. Why? because Tesla had exchanged all of his patents for stock, which was now worth nothing.
He then have to digging ditches for $2 a day just to survive, I dont know where I read this but I remember the ditches was dig for Edison company so they can install DC powerline.
The War of Currents, AC vs DC
George Westinghouse was trying to build an AC system but he is not Him, by god intervention, one day he met Tesla and impressed with his AC motor, so they join forces and start, The War of Currents against Edison.
To done AC dirty, Edison have tried many ways to convince people about how dangerous AC is by executing animals, tho sadly everyone knew that he was just trying to protect his golden egg-laying goose, the DC system.
What do Tesla and Westinghouse response with that? they light up the whole Chicago in 1893, 27 million people who witnessed that event become AC fan. But that was not all, they continued their success when they beat out Edison's General Electric to built the world's first AC power plant in Niagara Falls, the hydroelectric power station yet again light up the whole Buffalo, New York. This also meant that Tesla was one of the first to successfully make green energy from nature's power, because of that he got a stature at Niagara Falls today.
Tesla's sacrifice $400,000,000 to save Westinghouse
continued the fight, Westinghouse won the battle against Edison's DC, but didnt won the war, Westinghouse was financialy broke, the company was $10 million in debt.
So in 1897, he went to Tesla and said "bro we are broke :( ", which Tesla replied by ripping up his contract, $12 million in royalties, about ~$400 million today, saving Westinghouse from bankruptcy, in return Westinghouse paid Tesla $216,000 (~$6 million today) for the right to use his AC patents forever.
Who invented the Radio?
At the same time when Tesla working on his radio inventions, there was a Italian entrepreneur named Macroni who was also working on radio, he tried to liscened it in US but it was refused because it looks like a copy of Tesla's radio.
But everything changed when he has Edison on his side, 1904 the US patents office suddenly changed it mind and awarded Macroni radio invention patent, thanks to the massive financial support Macroni had from Edison.
Tesla was angry because Macroni and Edison basically stole his inventions and took credit for it, he tried to sue them, and the case drag for years, only to be resolved in Tesla's favor... after his death.
Bonus Stories
- Tesla hate any object the have a sphere shape, if his employees wear pearl necklace, he would
electrocutedI mean tell them to fk off. - Tesla was obsessed with the number 3, 6, 9, Tesla basically do everything and I mean everything in these number, like he would walk around a building 3 times before he enter, he even spend his last days at room 3327 on floor 33 in New York hotel, he also died 3 days before his 87 birthday.
- Tesla once in love with a pidgeon.
thats its for today, thx for reading, peace :p