Prodigal Genius
Nikola Tesla
“There manifests itself in the fully developed being—Man—a desire mysterious, inscrutable and irresistible: to imitate nature, to create, to work himself the wonders he perceives. Inspired to this task he searches, discovers and invents, designs and constructs, and covers with monuments of beauty, grandeur and awe, the star of his birth. He descends into the bowels of the globe to bring forth its hidden treasures and to unlock its immense imprisoned energies for his use. He invades the dark depths of the ocean and the azure regions of the sky. He peers into the innermost nooks and recesses of molecular structure and lays bare to his gaze worlds infinitely remote. He subdues and puts to his service the fierce, devastating spark of Prometheus, the titanic forces of the waterfall, the wind and the tide. He tames the thundering bolt of Jove and annihilates time and space. He makes the great Sun itself his obedient toiling slave. Such is his power and might that the heavens reverberate and the whole earth trembles by the mere sound of his voice.
John J. O’Neill
Before the turn of the 20th century, electricity remained a mere scientific curiosity. Nikola Tesla, arguably more than anyone else, changed that. But Tesla’s pioneering research in electricity represents only a portion of the scientific and technical innovations that elevated him to science godhood.
- Nikola Tesla, Prodigal Genius covers, among other topics, the story of Tesla’s inspiration for his career in engineering; shows his theories of electricity that went against the scientific establishment; explores his friendships; investigates the story of the lost Nobel Prize; and, explains Tesla’s investigation of the paranormal.
- Written by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author John J. O’Neill, Nikola Tesla, Prodigal Genius details the life of one the greatest geniuses of our time.
PART I: LIGHT AND POWER
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
PART II: FAME AND FORTUNE
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
PART III: INTERNAL VIBRATION
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
PART IV: SELF-MADE SUPERMAN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
PART V: AFTERGLOW
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) was a Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, physicist, and futurist who is best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system. Born and raised in the Austrian Empire, Tesla received an advanced education in engineering and physics in the 1870s and gained practical experience in the early 1880s working in telephony and at Continental Edison in the new electric power industry. He immigrated to the United States in 1884, where he would become a naturalized citizen. He worked for a short time at Continental Edison in New York City before he struck out on his own.
