Tesla: Man Out of TimeIn this “informative and delightful” (American Scientist) biography, Margaret Cheney explores the brilliant and prescient mind of Nikola Tesla, one of the twentieth century’s greatest scientists and inventors. Called a madman by his enemies, a genius by others, and an enigma by nearly everyone, Nikola Tesla was, without a doubt, a trailblazing inventor who created astonishing, sometimes world-transforming devices that were virtually without theoretical precedent. Tesla not only discovered the rotating magnetic field—the basis of most alternating-current machinery—but also introduced us to the fundamentals of robotics, computers, and missile science. Almost supernaturally gifted, unfailingly flamboyant and neurotic, Tesla was troubled by an array of compulsions and phobias and was fond of extravagant, visionary experimentations. He was also a popular man-about-town, admired by men as diverse as Mark Twain and George Westinghouse, and adored by scores of society beauties. From Tesla’s childhood in Yugoslavia to his death in New York in the 1940s, Cheney paints a compelling human portrait and chronicles a lifetime of discoveries that radically altered—and continue to transform—the world in which we live. Tesla: Man Out of Time is an in-depth look at the seminal accomplishments of a scientific wizard and a thoughtful examination of the obsessions and eccentricities of the man behind the science. |
Contents
| 9 | |
| 13 | |
| 19 | |
| 25 | |
Immigrants of Distinction | 42 |
At the Court of Mr Edison | 49 |
The War of the Currents Begins | 61 |
Order of the Flaming Sword | 76 |
Ridiculed Condemned Combatted | 203 |
The Great Radio Controversy | 221 |
Midstream Perils | 231 |
The Nobel Affair | 237 |
Flying Stove | 247 |
Radar | 258 |
The Guest of Honor | 267 |
Pigeons | 275 |
Radio | 89 |
High Society | 105 |
High Road Low Road | 119 |
An Error of Judgment | 130 |
To Mars | 142 |
Robots | 155 |
Hurler of Lightning | 171 |
Blackout at Colorado Springs | 181 |
Magnificent and Doomed | 192 |
Transitions | 286 |
The Birthday Parties | 292 |
Cosmic Communion | 309 |
The Missing Papers | 328 |
The Legacy | 343 |
Reference Notes | 357 |
Postscript | 377 |
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alternating current alternating-current American apparatus beam began Belgrade believed built Butler Library claimed Colorado Springs Notes Company Czito death described device distance Earth Edison Edison Medal Electrical Engineers Electrical Review electron energy equipment experimental experiments field filed frequency friends Genius George Scherff George Westinghouse high-frequency Hobson honor Hotel Ibid idea invention of radio inventions inventor J. P. Morgan Johnson to Tesla Katharine Johnson Kosanović laboratory later lecture Library of Congress light machine magnifying transmitter Marconi ment Michael Pupin Microfilm letter Morgan motor never night Nikola Tesla Nobel O'Neill Office oscillator papers patents pigeon polyphase polyphase system problem produced Pupin radio Raditsa rays reported Robert scientific scientists sent Serbian Serbs signals soon Swezey Tesla coil Tesla Museum Tesla patents Tesla turbine tion told transmission transmit tube turbine vacuum Wardenclyffe waves wire wireless wrote York Yugoslav Yugoslavia