January 7, 1943 - Death of Nikola Tesla, father of electricity

Nikola Tesla, the inventor, and visionary who changed the world, was born in Smilian (present-day Croatia; formerly part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) on 10 July 1856. In 1884 he emigrated to the United States, where he later became a naturalized citizen.

It is said that, at the age of 3, Nikola was stroking his cat and noticed that the touch of his hand on the cat's back produced a shower of noisy sparks. This caught his attention and he tried to find out what had happened. His father told him that it was the same thing that happened in the trees during a storm: electricity. This event would mark the rest of his life. From that moment until his death, Nikola Tesla focused his days on discovering what that phenomenon was until he became the great visionary of electricity.

Thus, Tesla, recognized as one of the most important inventors of the modern age, was the main promoter of the use of alternating current (the current used today) thanks to the invention of the polyphase power distribution system and the alternating current motor.

He patented more than 700 inventions such as an electric submarine (1898), the first electric remote control device, the precursor of drones and the TV remote control (1898), and a 200 hp bladeless turbine capable of rotating at 16,000 rpm (1913).

He is credited with the phrase: "The present is yours, but the future, for which I have worked so hard, belongs to me".

The unit (in the international system) of magnetic flux density is the Tesla, named after him.

Unfortunately, Tesla, a genius with a flamboyant personality, was a man ahead of his time who did not receive the recognition he would have deserved during his lifetime. He died of an acute myocardial infarction in a New York hotel room on 7 January 1943.

If you want to know more, click on the following link: Nikola Tesla