Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla : Biography of a Genius (Google eBook)

Marc J Seifer

Citadel Press, 1996 - Biography & Autobiography - 542 pages

Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), credited by many as the inspiration for radio, robots, and even radar, has been called the patron saint of modern electricity. Yet very few people know about his life and work. Based on original source materials and previously unavailable documents, Wizard is the definitive biography of this founding father of modern technology.

For the first time, Wizard reveals the details of Tesla's struggles with competing contemporary inventors such as Edison, Steinmetz, and Marconi and with financial giants like J. R Morgan and John Jacob Astor, who underwrite his work.

An immaculately groomed figure, Tesla once lived at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York and dined at the finest restaurants. Tesla's genius was challenged, however, when his peers vilified his attempts to contact other planets. In the last years of his life, unable to secure financing for his newest inventions, he lived in semipoverty in a fourth-rate hotel.

Wizard brings to the fore the intriguing life of this legendary innovator.

What people are saying

Review: Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla: Biography of a Genius

User Review  - Eddy Allen - Goodreads

Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), credited as the inspiration for radio, robots, and even radar, has been called the patron saint of modern electricity. Based on original material and previously unavailable ...

Review: Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla: Biography of a Genius

User Review  - Jefferson - Goodreads

Compelling biography about a unique man. Tesla shows how history remembers those who have a difficult time balancing their genius. The contributions tesla made should be taught as are Edison's or einsteins.

Contents

• Heritage: 1
• Childhood 185674: 5
• College Years 187582: 15
• Tesla Meets the Wizard of Menlo Park 188285: 27
• Liberty Street 188688: 40
• Induction at Pittsburgh 1889: 51
• Bogus Inventors 188990: 61
• South Fifth Avenue 189091: 66
• Revising the Past 1891: 73
• The Royal Society 1892: 83
• Father of the Wireless 1893: 98
• Electric Sorcerer 1893: 110
• The Filipovs 1894: 122
• Niagara Power 1894: 132
• Effulgent Glory 1894: 138
• Fire at the Lab 1895: 146
• Martian Fever 189596: 152
• High Society 189497: 158
• Shadowgraphs 1896: 167
• Falls Speech 1897: 171
• Luminaries 189698: 178
• Socerers Apprentice 189697: 182
• Vril Power 1898: 193
• WaldorfAstoria 1898: 204
• Colorado Springs 1899: 214
• Contact 1899: 220
• Thors Emissary 1899: 230
• The Heros Return 1900: 236
• The House of Morgan 1901: 245
• World Telegraphy Center 1901: 256
• Clash of the Titans 1901: 266
• The Passing of the Torch 1902: 275
• Wardenclyffe 19021903: 283
• The Web 19031904: 293
• Dissolution 19041906: 307
• The Child of His Dreams 19071908: 324
• Bladeless Turbines 190910: 336
• The Hammond Connection 190913: 343
• J P Morgan Jr 191214: 357
• Fifth Column 191416: 368
• The Invisible Audience 191521: 378
• Transmutation 191821: 395
• The Roaring Twenties 191827: 404
• Faster Than the Speed of Light 192740: 416
• Living on Credit 192540: 428
• Loose Ends 193143: 436
• The FBI and the Tesla Papers 194356: 446
• The Wizards Legacy: 463
• The Magnifying Transmitter A Technical Discussion: 471
• The Tunguska Incident: 476
• Bibliography: 477
• Notes: 487
• Acknowledgments: 532
• Index: 534

Popular passages

Page 13 - It is impossible for me to convey an adequate idea of the intensity of feeling I experienced in witnessing his exhibitions of these mysterious phenomena, Every impression produced a thousand echoes in my mind. I wanted to know more of this wonderful force; I longed for experiment and investigation and resigned myself to the inevitable with aching heart. Just as I was making ready for the long journey home I received word that my father wished me to go on a shooting expedition. It was a strange request...‎

Page 11 - ... from my mother. Moreover these were not of the formal kind but the genuine article. I had all this and more behind me before I was six years old and had past thru one year of elementary school in the village of Smiljan where I was born. At this juncture we moved to the little city of Gospic nearby. This change of residence was like a calamity to me. It almost broke my heart to part from our pigeons, chickens and sheep, and our magnificent flock of geese which used to rise to the clouds in the...‎

About the author

Seifer is the author of over 70 publications

Bibliographic information

• Title: Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla : Biography of a Genius; Citadel Press Book
• Author: Marc J Seifer
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Citadel Press, 1996
• ISBN: 0806535253, 9780806535258
• Length: 542 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Historical; Biography & Autobiography / Science & Technology