The genius of Nikola Tesla.(The Right Perspective)(Biography)

Just as we acknowledge the greatness of Thomas Edison ("The Man Who Lit Up the World" by William Hoar, in THE NEW AMERICAN'S June 30th issue), we must also acknowledge the genius of Nikola Tesla.

As Margaret Cheney and Robert Uth write in their book Tesla, Master of Lightning, "This is the story of a genius--the enigmatic Nikola Tesla (1856-1943)--and his vast contribution to science. While Thomas Edison was thrilling engineers with the development of the DC (direct current) motor, Tesla had already devised the far superior AC (alternating current) model, which quickly became the industry standard."

Mr. Hoar mentions Edison's experimentation with AC by executing stray cats and dogs to prove how unsafe AC was, without mentioning that the inventor of the revolutionary alternating current was Nikola Tesla. Hoar writes, "As late as 1903, Mr. Edison complained about what he considered undue attention paid to alternating current." Cheney and Uth further write, "Edison knew little of alternating current, chose to believe it the work of the devil, and did not care to learn more about it."

AC was but one of many Tesla innovations. An August 28, 1984 New York Times article, entitled "Tesla, A Bizarre Genius," states: "The world of science is belatedly recognizing the genius of one of its most important, eccentric, and enigmatic inventors, Nikola Tesla. A century after he arrived penniless on the docks of New York City, Tesla is receiving credit for brilliant achievements that outdid those of his contemporaries, Edison and Marconi. And more than forty years after the recluse died in a Manhattan hotel room ... he is being elevated to the pantheon of the world's greatest inventors. It was Nikola Tesla, not Marconi, who invented the first radio; it was Tesla, not Edison, who devised the system of electric power distribution now used throughout the world. It was Tesla who invented the polyphase electric motor, the bladeless steam turbine, and the radio-guided torpedo. Some scientists say it was Tesla who conceived ideas for a 'Star Wars' type of military shield in space."

Cheney and Uth write, "Nikola Tesla, immigrant, arrived in New York in 1884 with a letter of introduction to Thomas Edison and very little else." Upon meeting Edison, Tesla recalled in 1919, "When I saw this wonderful man, who had had no training at all, no advantages, and who did it all himself, and saw the great results by virtue of his industry and application--you see, I had studied a dozen languages ... and had spent the best years of my life ruminating through libraries ... I thought to myself what a terrible thing it ...