Thursday, March 18, 2010

Nikola Tesla

This statue stands (or sits!) outside the Faculty of Engineering in Belgrade. Nikola Tesla
(1856-1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer, one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity. Tesla made many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and his patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current electric power systems, which he helped bring about the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, in what is now Croatia, he was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth (since Croatia was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) and later became an American citizen. During his many years of work in the United States, Tesla's fame was widespread, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and often bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was regarded as a mad scientist. References to Tesla were made in such films as The Prestige and The Bucket List. In the latter, actor Morgan Freeman mentions that it was not really Marconi who invented the radio. Indeed, the the U.S. Supreme Court overturned most of Marconi’s patents in light of the previous work of Nikola Tesla, Oliver Lodge, and John Stone from which Marconi’s patent’s were based.

36 comments:

Olivier said...

une tres belle sculpture, assez impressionnante

Roger Owen Green said...

Tesla's also mentioned in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

Lowell said...

I didn't know that!

Quite coincidentally, I do a lot of crossword puzzles and the name Nikola Tesla is often used but I had no idea of the exact nature of his work or that he was a little "eccentric."

Thanks for this great post!

Gibepregiba said...

I read that Tesla probably had Asperger syndrome, because he was in the same time so brilliant (he was also fluent in many languages) and not so interested in some for us normal things, eccentric and naive (which probably Edison and Marconi took advantage of).

His best friend was Mark Twain, whom I also admire.

Great post and photo. Thanks. Just one thing, can you put link for more information about Tesla in the post? I tried to click his name. :)

Bob Crowe said...

Nice shot of a monument to an important person. Tesla is under-appreciated these but he was one of the great scientific figures of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. He also had significant mental health problems. I'm glad you showed us this.

James said...

Very cool. I didn't know that he was from your neck of the woods.

T. Becque said...

I like all the brown and textures.

Louis la Vache said...

So he got all coiled up in his stories?

(Editor to «Louis»: We don't need your corny puns here tonight!)

Juliette said...

When I was a child, I always loved seeing the Tesla coil exhibit at the Griffith Park Observatory (where the movie "Rebel Without a Cause" was filmed). What an amazing mind!

Chuck Pefley said...

Ah, the inventor of the static electricity science exhibit. Clever guy.

Pat said...

Hi, Gibepregiba and others! I've added the link for more Tesla info. Just click on his name in my text.

Nishant said...

Great post and photo.
work at home in india

Eleonora Baldwin said...

I loved The Prestige, and David Bowie played an interesting Tesla. I am so ignorant, before the film I had never heard of him...
WOnderful photo!

Ciao

Anonymous said...

Great photo!
Nobody noticed Blondie? :)

Anonymous said...

*...In the lower left corner

Pat said...

Hello, Anonymous! Ha! I didn't see the stencil either, but WHO is Blondie? I've Googled Blondie, but all I get is some rock group and no pictures or anything like this fellow.

Bogdan said...

Hello Bibi! (pozdrav! :) )

I am Anonymous who wrote previous posts. Blondie is a main charachter from the cult "spaghetti western" "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", played by Clint Eastwood.

In fact I attend the faculty of Electrical engineering that is on the picture, 4 more exams and I hope that I am not going to see that building so often any more :)

Sorry for the longer post, great blog, bye!

Kitty said...

so interesting! I'd love to know more about Tesla.

Quite a nice building, too. Really fine details. I love the rusticated base.

LA / nodecaf said...

Tesla is my son's hero. He wants to be a physicist when he grows up. Nice pic.

Suburban Girl said...

Great shot & perspective.

Unknown said...

A beautiful statue of Tesla and a beautiful photo of it and the Engineering building.
Here is another interesting link to a statue of Tesla, done by another great Yugoslav (I find the idea of the South Slavs hard to give up).
Thanks Bibi for speading the knowledge of this great scientist.

http://www.teslasociety.com/ivan.htm

Daryl said...

I believe he also inspired Edison's light bulb........

B SQUARED said...

Just as an aside, I love the Tesla Automobiles. Would love to replace the Yugo with one. A great man, all kidding aside.

Alexa said...

From what I know of tesla and his eccentricity, I can definitely believe he had Asperger's. That little picture of the Clint Eastwood character makes an interesting juxtaposition. I always thought he was "the man with no name" in the "Dollar" films (apparently not). I've learned a few things here today!

James said...

There is no place to comment on your Skywatch post. That flock looks like a flock of geese that I saw in New Hope a couple of months ago. They make a very nice pattern and I hope they didn't make a mess. ;)

Lowell said...

I don't know why your comment box isn't showing up, but I seem to be having some problems with Blogger, too...mainly that it is very slow and then I will get an occasional "error" notice when making a comment...sorry I can't be of more help...but I do want to say I think the shot of the birds is rather magnificent. Reminds me of Hitchcock's "The Birds."

Glennis said...

I think the birds would be geese as they are large birds. Nice photo the birds make great patterns across the sky.
Maybe you have changed some of your settings and have lost your comment box, some blogs do not have a comment box at all, I think it can be altered at the privacy part of the settings. But I am no expert. Some of the lovely men and women who run this Meme will be able to help you if you ask.

Chattahoochee Valley Daily said...

The missing comment box has happened to me as well. It cleared itself a day or so later.

About the geese photo: To copy Sesame Street...today is brought to you by the number 4, albeit backwards.

dianasfaria.com said...

since this is the second time I'm here & still no comment spot, what is up with Blogger? I have to tell you Bibi, I LOVE this photo. You are so talented, with such a great eye. I love the silvery shimmery outline around the birds. it really is beautiful.
& I hope your comment thingy appears!

Tash said...

Excellent dramatic photo, perfect angle and size.
I have some old photos of my dad I believe in front of that building - he finished Mining Engineering there; I'll dig them up and send you a scan...Maybe a good one for now & then comparison.

Vesna said...

Thank you for the great photo and notes about Tesla. I was nicely surprised when I saw a replica of the same sculpture on the U.S. side of Niagara Falls. It may also be found on the web, as here:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/File:Tesla_statue_at_niagara_falls.jpg

PJ said...

I'm so thrilled to see this! I think he was one of the greatest minds of all time and that he should get loads more credit and historical attention than he has gotten.

Jilly said...

There is a Tesla showroom in Monaco for the electric car (fabulous!) that I posted on Monte Carlo DP a while back and of course named after this gentleman.

Colin said...

Beautiful picture! Tesla was quite a fascinating guy. I especially liked hearing about the 'Death Beam' he claimed to have invented. There's some cool information out there on him:

http://timelines.com/topics/nikola-tesla
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_tesla
http://www.teslasociety.com/biography.htm

Unknown said...

I would like to contact you but I have problems....when I go to your profile and I click on email link...it doesn't work.
I have a question and I would really like to get in touch with you.

Pat said...

Violeta, I received your comment, but when I click on reply it comes up noreply@blogger.com You need to send me your email address. The link on my blog does work; I just tried it. Try instead groundhog4860@yahoo.com

SPRING FASHION

 This is a post that would be better in color, but maybe not. These colors were soooo pale.