The genius of Nikola Tesla: Scientist is central to triumph of electricity

Sonia L. Gottfried By Sonia L. Gottfried Ann Arbor News
on September 14, 2008 at 9:58 AM, updated October 07, 2008 at 7:17 AM

By John W. Wagner

Other Voices

Other voicesJohn W. Wagner
The writer is a retired teacher from Dexter Community Schools.

The American Physical Society, parent group of physics teachers, is sponsoring a learning contest for all middle school students in grades six through nine this year. The focus is on the American scientist Nikola Tesla.

Teachers can obtain free materials at

Prior to 1800 little was known about electricity except for the novelty of its existence in the static stage, existing for only an instant before discharging and disappearing.

In 1800 the Italian Alessandro Volta put electricity to practical use by his invention of a battery cell, the first application of electrochemical energy.

Then in 1820 a Danish scientist, Hans Christian Oersted, accidentally discovered that a compass needle moved when it was close to an electrically conducting wire connected to battery, proving that a new but mysterious relationship existed between a magnetic field and the flow of electrical current. This was the first of three pivotal breakthroughs in electrical science, which would ultimately lead to our present day system of alternating current power.

Eleven years later, Michael Faraday, an Englishman, made the second pivotal breakthrough when he solved the big question of electricity's relationship to magnetism. He demonstrated that the magnet or the coil of wire, in close proximity to each other, must be kept moving for electric current to flow. Faraday then discovered the principle of electromagnetic induction. This led to his invention of the electrical transformer and the electromagnetic generator. The door to electric power was now unlocked, but it was unknown how to open it to make electrical power practical.

Decades passed. Then in 1864 a brilliant Scottish mathematician named James Clerk Maxwell theorized that light is an electromagnetic wave and defined the laws of electrodynamics with what we now call Maxwell's Equations. We will see later that these are the theoretical foundation for radio and television transmission.

From 1869 to 1872 the first adaptations of Faraday's electromagnetic dynamos and motors appeared, but only in direct current form using a mechanical device called a commutator, thus converting naturally occurring AC to DC. They were used in limited applications to power small machine shops and arc lighting in larger cities.


Thomas Edison entered the picture at this point with his invention of the incandescent lamp in 1879. He needed a power source, so he instructed his engineers and technicians to copy existing DC technology and make larger dynamos. The first major application of this was his famous Pearl Street Generating Station in New York City, enabling him to light a small section of that city. Edison was hailed as "The King of Electricity," a title that remains today.

But DC technology had major flaws. Because of electrical resistance losses DC power could be sent only a half-mile from the generating station and required huge copper cables. Also, the DC motor proved troublesome and unreliable.

At this time, a young student named Nikola Tesla, studying physics and engineering in Europe, immediately recognized these flaws and suggested that a way must be found to use alternating current. His suggestion brought him immediate ridicule by his professor and fellow students; AC was considered equal to perpetual motion - utterly impossible.

Tesla's dream since childhood was to become an American citizen and somehow harness the awesome power of Niagara Falls, a picture of which he had seen in a schoolbook.

Ultimately Tesla solved the AC conundrum and immigrated to the U.S. in 1884 to give his new concept to Edison, but Edison did not understand and refused. Tesla then patented his concept of a rotating magnetic field in 1888. This is the third and final pivotal breakthrough discovery making AC a viable technology. It remains the foundation of virtually all electromagnetic energy and electromechanical energy generated in the world today.

He sold his patents to the Westinghouse Co. and in 1896 the great Falls of Niagara was harnessed, thus setting the stage for the Second Industrial Revolution.

Having solved the power conundrum at the low end of the electromagnetic spectrum (60 Hz), Tesla immediately began investigating the upper end. He had learned of the advances made by a German scientist, Heinrich Hertz, in 1888, to send an electromagnetic wave wirelessly a distance of 3 feet. Tesla immediately recognized the possibility of transmitting energy wirelessly for communication purposes.

In 1891 Tesla invented a device called a Tesla coil, which used the three principles of fundamental importance to the radio art today.

The following year Tesla invented his four-tuned circuits idea and secured it with two U.S. patents (1897). Later, the U.S. Supreme Court, Case No. 369, June 23, 1943, recognized Tesla's primacy in radio transmission and overturned Marconi's patents for the invention of radio.

Thus, it was Tesla's inventions that made AC and radio viable technologies. As a result, like the names Watt, Volta, Faraday, Ampere and Ohm, Tesla became the last of only 15 scientists worldwide elevated to immortality by having a unit of electrical/magnetic measurement named in his honor. The only other American in this exclusive group is Joseph Henry. A full-length statue of Mr. Henry stands in the Smithsonian.