Nikola Tesla, the Serbian inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, physicist, and futurist, is well-known for his contributions to what we know as the alternating current (AC) electricity supply system. He arrived in the U.S. in 1884 and worked under Thomas Edison. Later he set up labs in New York and Colorado to conduct a plethora of electrical device experiments that led to the birth of the AC induction motor. Today, Tesla Motors, which designs and manufactures electric vehicles, is named for him.
Take a look at these five historic images of Nikola Tesla from the late 1800s.
1. This photo was taken in Colorado Springs. Tesla is sitting with his magnifying transmitter, which can produce millions of volts of electricity. Here the discharge is 22 feet long. (1899)
2. Here Tesla is burning the nitrogen of the atmosphere. The result is a discharge of 12 million volts by an electrical oscillator. The electrical pressure (100,000 times per second) excites the nitrogen and causes it to combine with oxygen. The discharge measures 65 feet across. You can see Tesla sitting there right in the middle of all of it. (1899)
3. This is the first photo ever taken by phosphorescent light. Tesla’s face is illuminated by one of his phosphorescent bulbs. Phosphorescence is the persistent emission of light following exposure to and removal of radiation. The exposure time lasted eight minutes. (1894)
4. In this experiment, Tesla is using his body charged to a high potential by means of a coil that’s responsive to the waves transmitted from a distant oscillator. He has a long glas tube in his hand and it is lit up by the electrical charges conveyed through the body. (1899)
5. Mark Twain in Nikola Tesla’s lab. Here, Twain is holding the loop over a resonating coil. The high-voltage frequency current is being passed though the human body to light the lamp. Tesla is in the background at the switch. (1894)
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