Nikola Tesla

The Real Inventor of Our A.C. Power System

At the stroke of midnight, when July 9 not create or develop our system of alter-
became July 10, 1856, Nikola Tesla was nating current electricity. History of "The
born. Within the first 26 years of his life he War of the Currents" shows how he fought
had conceived the rotating magnetic field its adoption bitterly, choosing instead to
principle-a culminating breakthrough in promote a system of direct current that had
power technology after Michael Faraday's already been invented by others. In short,
monumental discovery of electromagnetic Mr. Edison's brief role in the electrical;
induction in 1831. Tesla's discovery made power industry was that of entrepreneur
possible the polyphase generation and dis- who failed, rather than an inventor.
tribution over long distances of virtually In 1988-89, the writer's students com-
unlimited electrical energy in the form of missioned a bust of Tesla (appraised at
60 cycles (Hertz) AC. $6,000) to donate to any large museum.
After solving the AC conundrum, Tesla After discovering that the Smithsonian
had no further interest in low frequency made no recognition of Tesla, we offered
work and moved on to explore the world our bust. Our offer was promptly refused.
of high frequency phenomena. By 1890, Later we discovered their curator was dis-
he had conceived his famous "Tesla coil," playing a bust of Edison alongside Tesla's
still used as a major component in numer- NIKOLA TESLA motor/generator. He also displayed pho-
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ous electronic devices. By 1893, he had .0,0 0.0,14 tographs of the Niagara Falls power plant
HIS NAME MARKS AN EPOci-f
conceived, explained, and demonstrated IMUT Or 1.01"0.11 H$ co
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showing one of its original Tesla genera-
the "four -tuned circuits," making possible ',7,41.1:4SZ; tors. A large brass inscription plate listed
the theories of Maxwell and Hertz on the Tesla's patents, but there was no reference
transmission of intelligence. In 1893, he Bust of "Nikola Tesla," offered to to Tesla. In the middle of the display stood
made the first "wireless" transmission be- Smithsonian and refused. a life-size replica of Edison with the cap-
fore the National Electric Light Association tion, "While the Niagara AC plant was
in St. Louis; it is this essential understand- being built by Westinghouse, Edison was
ing that exists today in all modern radios. Supreme Court well because it was then busy with other important things." The
These principles served as the foundation able to render a decision: "A radio com- caption did not explain what these "other
for his U.S. patents that took priority over munication system requires two tuned cir- important things" were, nor why this was
Marconi's basic patents. On June 21, cuits, each at the transmitter and receiver, relevant to the Niagara AC power plant.
1943, the United States Supreme Court all four tuned to the same frequency." It is The Smithsonian Book of Invention is
ruled on Case No. 369, identified as "Mar- this "four -tuned circuit invention" that a prodigious 3/4 -inch thick book of Amer-
coni Wireless Telegraph Company of Amer- Tesla patented, published, and explained ica's greatest inventors and their inven-
ica vs. United States." The Court rendered that led to future advancements. tions. Tesla's name does not appear any-
invalid Marconi's basic patent No. 763,772 Many Tesla followers made progressive where in that publication. The writer is
dated June 28, 1904. Tesla's patent No. refinements in the technology, thus devel- amazed by these historians when they ig-
645,576 of March 20, 1900, and its sub- oping it to its present state. Most of us tend nore Tesla's contributions in their chapters
division patent for apparatus No. 649,621 to attribute the birth of radio to early tech- depicting the evolution of electric power
dated May 15, 1900, had priority. nologists who made the first refinements, and radio.
Our modem -day understanding of radio but it was Tesla had laid the foundation. The curator meticulously traces the his-
is very different from what people knew in Puzzling to many, however, is that Tesla's tory of electricity from Volta to Edison,
those early days. Therefore, it is essential greatest contributions, AC power distribu- naming the 43 significant contributors, yet
to state a definition of radio that encom- tion and fundamentals of radio, are either Tesla's name is missing. Instead, the cura-
passes only that which is indispensable as unknown or challenged bitterly. tor shows pictures of the Niagara Falls
an embryonic commencement of our pre- It is easy to understand why most peo- Power project and readers are carefully
sent day technology. Lack of understand- ple have a distorted understanding of just guided into believing that this was the work
ing in this embryonic area is where most who was the real inventor of radio. First, of Edison. Yet it was Tesla's polyphase AC
modern technologists and historians be- it was the newspapers that hailed Mar- system the power commission adopted,
come confused, and understandably so. coni's first successful transatlantic radio and licenses had to be issued to use Tesla's
Nevertheless, without the conception of transmission; then textbooks followed with patents. Money for this publication came
the radio "embryo," those basic elements their depiction of that exciting event. Both from the Thomas Alva Edison Foundation.
underlying its fundamental principles, media sources had already raised the flag Tesla is one of only two Americans hon-
there would be no radio; and without a de- of victory for Marconi, so it is easy to under- ored by International Electrotechnical Con-
limitative definition, there could not have stand Tesla's dismay-he had done much gress in Munich. In 1956, the unit of mag-
been a definitive decision of who really in- of the pioneering work. netic flux density in the MKS system was
vented those basic elements essential to our A similar media blitz is responsible for designated the tesla. Thus, his name is
modem -day radio technclogy. Thomas Alva Edison becoming a familiar alongside only 15 others, such as Volta,
The following definition served the household name. In reality, Mr. Edison did Faraday, Ohm, Watt, an Ampere.

28 / POPULAR COMMUNICATIONS / June 1995 THE MONITORING MAGAZINE