When in 1884 this technical genius, a Serbian by birth, realized that there was no understanding and support for his revolutionary inventions in Europe,

he decided to leave for America. Then Charles Batchelor, a close associate of Thomas Edison and his representative on the Old Continent, sent a note to the latter in New York to hire him, in which he wrote: "I know two great men. One is you, and the other is this young man standing before you."

Nikola Tesla, or "the man who invented the 20th century," as some of his biographers call him, was born on July 10, 1856, in the village of Smiljan, not far from the town of Gospić (now in Croatia, then a special district of the Habsburg Empire). He was one of five children of the Serbian Orthodox priest Milutin Tesla and his wife Đuka Mandić.

Nikola started first grade at the primary school in the village, but soon the family moved to Gospić and there he completed primary education and junior high school. He continued at the famous and respected Higher Real Gymnasium in Karlovac /1870-1873/, which prepared its graduates for technical sciences. Having just graduated, in 1874 he fell seriously ill with cholera and spent nine months in bed. Then he continued to study at the Polytechnic in Graz, one of the four higher schools in Austria-Hungary, where engineers were trained. In 1878, Nikola Tesla turned to the "Matica Srpska" in Novi Sad with a request for a scholarship to complete the "started technical sciences" in Vienna or Prague, but was refused. Moreover - he was the second. Because earlier, in 1876, the young man submitted documents for one and was also not approved. However, he did not harbor a bad attitude towards this oldest Serbian cultural, literary and scientific institution and later, in 1902, as a world-renowned scientist, he became its member. Nikola Tesla never finished university.

Further on, everything in his life is a series of studies, work, inventions in different cities and countries: Maribor, Prague, Budapest, Paris, Strasbourg, New York... And of course, like every genius, he is also a series of oddities and weaknesses - he loves bars, gambling, billiards, pigeons...

In Maribor, he started his first job at a technical company, but spent his days in taverns, gambling and playing billiards. Due to lack of sufficient funds for support, the city government expelled him from the city.

In Prague, he studied natural philosophy for a while at Charles University in 1880, and then he first encountered electric lighting, installed on Hibernska Street by the Czech electrical engineer František Křížík.

In Budapest, he worked at the Central Telephone Service and made his first invention there - a device for amplifying voice over the telephone. It was there, in 1882, while walking with his friend Anton Szigeti in the city park, watching the setting sun and reciting verses from Goethe's Faust, that he discovered the principle of creating a rotating magnetic field with alternating current.

In Paris, he joined the Continental Edison Company, Thomas Edison's European electric company. While sent to Strasbourg to repair the failed direct current electrical system, he constructed the world's first induction motor in 1883.

In New York, as mentioned above, Tesla arrived in 1884 without money, with only a little luggage and the aforementioned letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor. He started working in the company of Thomas Edison. But soon a great conflict arose between the two great men, known in the history of science as the "War of Currents". Edison insisted on direct currents, and Tesla on alternating currents. Time showed that the Serbian inventor was right. But at that moment of conflict, he had to quit his job.

Just a few months later, in early 1885, he founded his first company, Tesla Electric Light and Manufacturing. In 1887, he founded the Tesla Electric Company with the aim of applying his inventions in the field of polyphase alternating currents. In his laboratory, he constructed the first polyphase induction motors and generators. From 1888 to 1891, in New York, the inventor defended a total of 36 patents, with which he completely developed the so-called "Tesla polyphase system" - the basis for the emergence of the Second Industrial Revolution.

In 1890, Tesla began experimenting with high-frequency currents. He created the oscillating transformer in 1891, now known worldwide as the induction "Tesla Coil".

Here are some more interesting facts related to the inventions of this electrical engineering genius:

- In 1893, he achieved great success at the Chicago World's Fair, billed as "The World of Tomorrow" and dedicated to the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus. The pavilions there were lit by 12 two-phase Tesla generators, each with a power of 1000 horsepower and a frequency of 60Hz.

- In 1896, the world's first large alternating current hydroelectric power plant began operating on the Niagara River. The first kilowatt hours of electricity flowed to the city of Buffalo, which is about 40 km away. Of the 13 patents used for the operation of the Niagara Power Plant, 9 belong to Nikola Tesla.

- In 1897, he laid the foundations of radio engineering. He built a new radio station near New York and sent radio signals over a distance of over 40 km. For this, he has two key patents - "Electric Transmission System" and "Devices for the Transmission of Electrical Energy".

- In 1898, at the first electrical exhibition in Madison Square Garden, he demonstrated the movement of his model boat by remote control using radio waves. The patent for him was called "Method of control and device for a mechanism for controlling movable vessels or vehicles." Realizing its great importance, he protected it in 11 countries. This invention, together with his system of four circuits in resonance, are the basis of wireless communication.

• Then follow: his experiments in Colorado Springs in 1899 on the "standing waves" of planet Earth; the construction of Tesla's 87-meter tower on Long Island to create a transatlantic communication system; the bladeless turbine; the fountains for Tiffany; the speed indicator /speedometer/, the idea of ​​.. until his last patent for an "Aircraft Flight Apparatus", which he received at the age of 72.
• In summary: Nikola Tesla left behind at least 311 patents from 27 different countries, with which he protected 125 of his inventions. In addition, the archives of the Nikola Tesla Museum contain data on 33 of his patent applications in the United States for which he did not receive patents, as well as those that he prepared for filing but did not. He also created a significant number of inventions that he never attempted to protect, such as the application of high-frequency currents for medical purposes.

For some of his discoveries and patents, Nikola Tesla received significant sums of money, but he spent most of it on his experiments.

For the last ten years of his life, the inventor lived in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel in New York, almost forgotten. He died on January 7, 1943, penniless and in debt, at the age of 86.

His legacy - his personal archive and some of his belongings - are today in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade.

It was opened in 1955, but its actual museum activity began in 1957, when Serbia received from the USA the urn with the ashes of this great man. Currently, the museum's funds contain: over 160,000 original documents, over 2,000 books and periodicals, over 1,200 historical and technical exhibits, over 1,500 photographs and glass photoplates of original technical items, instruments and devices, over 1,000 plans and drawings. The museum provides support and assistance in the study of the inventor's work, provides access to information to those involved in the history of science and patent law. All this makes the Nikola Tesla Museum a scientific and cultural institution, unique for Serbia and the world.

In 2003, UNESCO included the "Archives of Nikola Tesla, 1856-1943, at the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade" as part of the movable documentary heritage of humanity, in the "Memory of the World" register, the highest form of protection of cultural property.

But not only this museum preserves the memory of the great Serb, who later acquired American citizenship, but also the whole world.

For his immeasurable contribution to science, Nikola Tesla received the highest recognition in 1960, when the 11th General Conference on Weights and Measures, held in Paris from October 11 to 20, adopted a resolution that named the unit of magnetic induction in the International System of Units "tesla". In addition, a small planet is named after Tesla, as is a crater on the far side of the Moon. But around the world today, his name seems to be most often mentioned in connection with the electric cars of Tesla Motors.

In Serbia, the largest power plant is called the Nikola Tesla Power Plant. The airport in Belgrade bears his name, as do streets, schools, and what not. In Croatia, in his native village of Smiljan, there is the Nikola Tesla Memorial Center. In New York, there is also a Nikola Tesla Corner, and a Tesla Society has been established.

In Bulgaria, we also keep the memory of Nikola Tesla

There is a street named after him in Sofia. There is also the Nikola Tesla Academy, an educational institution related to information technology, with branches in several cities.

And in the village of Momchilovtsi, in the "Museum of Magic" there is even a device made personally by Nikola Tesla for the great Bulgarian illusionist Mr. Senko. Legend has it that the magician, through his close friend, asked the inventor to make a special coil for his trick. And Tesla made it, in 1930. Whether it is a rumor or true, but it is said that he even personally gave it to him. The device is unique in the world, and at the time the illusion with it, called by Mr. Senko "The Electric Chair", caused a huge sensation. Today, Tesla's chair and coil are among the most valuable exhibits in the new Museum of Illusion Art in Momchilovtsi. Above them are placed the photos of the two great men from the Balkans.

The material was prepared, for the most part, based on the information obtained during our team's visit to the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade.

Photos: "Diplomatic Spectrum", Elena Kanevska and "Museum of Magic"

Above: the figure of Nikola Tesla in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade

First row: the facade of the Nikola Tesla Museum, exhibits in it, a portrait of Tesla. Second row: the facade of the Museum of Magic in Momchilovtsi; the chair with Nikola Tesla's coil.