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Cheney has written a solid and serviceable biography of Tesla. There's nothing wrong with the book, and quite a bit really right.
None of this should dissuade you from reading the Tesla: Man Out of Time if you are looking for a good introduction to the subject. I learned a lot about the man, but really-- think about it-- what these men were doing was really amazing.
I think I missed some kind of (no pun intended) spark-- mostly around the science. The more I read about the man, the more I'm pretty sure he was awful).
This has been sitting on my to-read shelf for some time. I realize this is faint praise.
I got the facts, but missed the madness.(I did like her view on Edison.
People interested in history, science or biography will like this book and I can't wait to finish it. It is also very sad that practically no one has ever heard of him and his contributions have been almost purposefully hidden from us for some reason. I then watched a TV special about him a few months ago and wanted to know more. Everytime we turn on a light or run an appliance, we have Nikola Tesla to thank for it. It describes many of his ideas in very general terms. I would like to have more explanations of many of Tesla concepts such as electrical resonance for instance. I got this book and I'm over 1/2 way through it and it is wonderful. He is also responsible for the mastery of alternating current and our lives today would be completely diferent without him.
The book does a great job of going into his personal life and the behind the scenes world of his mental idiosyncracies and social relationships. The book is an easy read and pages go by quickly. I'd seen bits and pieces about the inventor Nikola Tesla on TV before and been a fan of the 80's rock band Tesla. Tesla was one of the premier inventors in History and certainly was a man out of time, coming up with inventions and concepts we are only able to appreciate today. The only thing negative I have to say is it is not a very technical book.
This book gives an insight into the scope of Tesla's work, his involvements with the other inventors and businessmen of his day and most interesting--his eccentricities.
It could possibly be one of the best non-fictional reads there are. After only a few chapters, the reader can begin to grasp what Tesla is like (personality wise) and the images of his lab just build in the back of the reader's mind. It is true that most Tesla biographies are based off one of the originals due to Tesla's very well-concealed private life. What "Man Out of Time" really does well is bring many of the ideas to life. It is very true that Tesla just didn't have enough time, but it is still proven and definitely seen in this book that he was the greatest inventor and electrical engineer of the 19th and 20th century.I high recommend this book.
This is a wonderful book. There were personality differences. He had to become a school drop-out. He returned to New York City in 1990 and in 1901 one of Tesla's patents specifically addressed the issue of supercooling conductors. He had an experimental lab built to his specifications. The public was confused by Edison's propaganda and G.E.'s efforts to contest Tesla's priority of invention.
He hit upon the notion of a rotating magnetic field produced by two or more alternating currents out of step with each other to make his induction machine. In 1875 he was enrolled at the Austrian Polytechnic School in Graz. Addressing the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, Tesla introduced a new scientific principle. Nikoa Tesla was ahead of his time and mistaken for a dreamer. The polyphase system was used by the Niagra Falls Power Co. Tesla accepted money from a financier, start-up funds, but to his material detriment rejected an alliance with the House of Morgan.
The fire took place amid the happiest and most productive decade of Tesla's life. Tesla demonstrated a radio-controlled robot boat at Madison Square Garden in 1898. Tesla made a deal with George Westinghouse for an alternating current system. A new lab was located on East Houston Street.
Marconi and Tesla wrangled over priority in the matter of radio patents, although neither man originated the law suits. Tesla's laboratory was moved to Colorado Springs in 1899. Newspapers reported that the fruits of genius had been swept away. Tesla continued his studies at a school in Karstadt, (the family was Servian but lived in Croatia).
and it laid the groundwork for all the electricity service systems in the United States. In 1943, after his death, the United States Supreme Court held that Tesla had anticipated all other contenders with his fundamental radio patents. Tesla gave demonstrations of light sources in 1893 at the Chicago World's Fair. Tesla anticipated the electron microscope and the atom smasher. He sought to complete two years of work in one.
It was never fully understood even by engineers that the system almost universally adopted was Tesla's. Tesla redesigned the Edison dynamos. Edison had a vested interest in direct current machines. Because his work was interrupted, Tesla was bested by Linde in developing the commercial breakthrough to produce liquified oxygen.
In the second year, Nikola Tesla toyed with the idea of an alternative to direct current machines. When it was not forthcoming he resigned. He had an abnormal ability to visualize and retain images. He thought he had been promised fifty thousand dollars for the work of a year. He excelled in languages but starred in math at school. In 1975 he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
He was a prolific inventor. Everything was destroyed. He was introduced to physics at age ten and was enthralled. Milikan was inspired by Tesla's claim of cosmic rays and Compton, too, expressed his debt to his Victorian predecessor. He gained employment with Thomas Edison on his first day. Born in 1856, he died at age eighty-six in 1943. The first commercial use of Tesla's system was undertaken in Telluride, Colorado, in 1891. Obsession plagued his life.
His financial circumstances were grim. When Westinghouse faced a financial calamity, Tesla signed over his patents for the polyphase system to Westinghouse. His researches included radio, energy transmission, guided vehicles, liquid oxygen and X rays. He travelled to America in 1884, the year of the panic. Nikola Tesla was a bachelor. He was basically self-taught.From a telegraph office in Germany, Tesla moved to a telephone office in Paris in 1883. In 1895 there was a fire at Tesla's New York City laboratory.
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