Nikola Tesla: “Inventor of some beautiful pieces of electrical apparatus”

Today marks the 70^th anniversary of the death of Nikola Tesla, prolific inventor, engineer, and physicist well known for developing the alternating current (AC) electrical supply system.  Tesla obtained at least 278 patents in 26 countries for his inventions and his theoretical ideas regarding radio communication paved the way for the development of radio remote control systems and RADAR.  Nicola Tesla was honored in 1960 for his significant scientific contributions when the “tesla” was designated as the SI unit for magnetic field strength.

In a letter to the Editor of The New York Times on June 23, 1907, Tesla responded to being called an “inventor of some useful pieces of electrical apparatus.”  He wrote, “If this does not appeal to you sufficiently to recognize in me a discoverer of principles, do me, at least, the justice of calling me an ‘inventor of some beautiful pieces of electrical apparatus.’”

Tesla with the spiral-shaped coil of his high voltage transformer at his laboratory on East Houston Street, New York.

Post by Annie Tête, STEM Education Coordinator

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