Innovation & Wealth › The Gilded Age › Second Industrial Revolution: steel, oil, electricity
Nikola Tesla
1856–1943; AC patents licensed 1888· Innovator or entrepreneur· Innovators & entrepreneurs
Well documentedSolid records, texts or physical evidence.
A Serbian-American inventor whose AC induction motor helped win the war of the currents; celebrated as a visionary, he died nearly broke.
See it on the Innovation & Wealth map →What happened
Born in 1856 in Smiljan, now in Croatia, Tesla worked for Edison's companies in Paris and briefly New York before striking out alone. His 1888 polyphase AC motor patents, licensed by Westinghouse for cash, stock and royalties, made AC practical for industry. He then pursued the Tesla coil, radio and wireless power; J. P. Morgan funded his Wardenclyffe tower in 1901 but pulled out. Gifted but poor at business, he died nearly penniless in a New York hotel in 1943.
Impact on society and the economy
Induction motors like his run most of the world's factory machines, pumps and fans. His career shows inventors can transform an industry while others capture the profits.
Fortune, legacy and how we know
Legacy: the tesla, the SI unit of magnetic field, and the name of Tesla Inc. Sources: about 300 patents worldwide, his 1888 lecture, letters, and W. Bernard Carlson's biography Tesla (2013).
Still debated
His fame grew after death into myth; claims of suppressed super-inventions are unsupported. Credit for radio, shared with Marconi and others, is still argued.
Connections (4)
▸Nikola Tesla supplied key AC patents for War of the currents: Westinghouse and Tesla vs EdisonWell documented
The connection
Early AC systems could light lamps but lacked a practical motor, a big gap since factories wanted power for machines. Tesla's 1888 polyphase induction motor, driven by a rotating magnetic field, filled it. Westinghouse bought the patents, and Tesla's polyphase design became the basis of the Niagara Falls power system.
When and how
New York, 1887–88 (patents and Tesla's May 1888 lecture to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers); Pittsburgh, 1888–89; Niagara Falls, 1895.
How we know
The patents, Tesla's published lecture and Westinghouse licensing contracts survive; Niagara's generators used his polyphase system.
Debates
Italian physicist Galileo Ferraris described a rotating-field motor at about the same time, and others supplied key AC parts, so Tesla's share of credit is debated.
▸Nikola Tesla briefly worked for Thomas Edison and General ElectricWell documented
The connection
Tesla joined Edison's European company in Paris in 1882 and moved to New York in 1884 to improve Edison's DC dynamos. He quit after about six months, saying a promised $50,000 bonus was dismissed as a joke. The split sent Tesla on to AC, the system that beat Edison's.
When and how
Paris, 1882–84 (Continental Edison Company); New York, Edison Machine Works, 1884–85.
How we know
Records confirm the job; the bonus story comes only from Tesla's later recollections and is not otherwise documented.
Debates
Popular culture exaggerates a personal feud; the two had little direct contact afterward, and whether Edison promised any bonus is unknown.
▸Nikola Tesla lent his name to the carmaker of Elon Musk: Tesla and SpaceXWell documented
The connection
Tesla Motors' founders, Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, named the company in 2003 after Nikola Tesla, whose alternating-current induction motor is the ancestor of the motor in its first car, the Roadster. Musk, who joined as lead investor in 2004, embraced the tribute; he has no family or business tie to the inventor.
When and how
Silicon Valley, 2003–2004; Musk led the first major funding round in 2004 and became CEO in 2008.
How we know
Founders' interviews and company histories describe the naming; Musk gave $1 million in 2014 toward a museum at Wardenclyffe, Tesla's former lab on Long Island.
Debates
Who counts as Tesla's founder was long disputed; a 2009 legal settlement lets five people, including Eberhard and Musk, use the title.
▸George Westinghouse licensed the AC patents of Nikola TeslaWell documented
The connection
In 1888 Westinghouse paid Tesla and his partners cash and stock plus a royalty of $2.50 per horsepower of AC equipment sold, then hired Tesla for about a year in Pittsburgh to adapt the motor. When the costly war of the currents and an 1890–91 financial crisis strained the company, Tesla gave up the royalties.
When and how
Pittsburgh and New York, July 1888; Tesla worked at Westinghouse's Pittsburgh works in 1888–89.
How we know
The licensing contract and company records survive; later Westinghouse records show the royalty arrangement ended.
Debates
The story that Tesla tore up his contract out of loyalty comes from a 1944 biography; records suggest he sold his rights for a lump sum, reportedly $216,000.