[Mr. Wyndham]

Okay, so I settled on Tesla. Sorry Mr. Lutz.
Anyways, this is the first, just-finished, hot-off-my-fingers, haven't-even-read-it-over-myself-yet version.

So please read (if you want to), and let me know what you think!

The Brightest Mind: Nicola Tesla

Great minds don’t come about all that often, and especially lately. So much has already been invented or discovered that great minds have become the everyday people who maintain our complex ways of life. However, Nicola Tesla was a King among insects. It can be argued that he lit the world. That’s right, Thomas Edison, has nothing on this man. Nicola Tesla is the inventor of Alternating Current, most notably. This type of power allowed for electricity to be distributed farther from one power plant, than Edison could have ever imagined. Because of Nicola Tesla’s unmatched achievements in the electrical field, I believe he is an excellent nominee to become a Great Mind that Shaped our Intellectual World.

Nicola Tesla’s greatest work took place between 1881, and 1915. He was born on July 10th, 1856, in what was at the time the Austo-Hungarian Empire. At first Tesla wanted to major in Mathematics, and physics. But the wonders of electricity won his heart, and he began to study that, instead. The start of his career was with a phone company in Budapest, where he worked as an electrical engineer. Eventually, he came to the United States in 1884, when he realized that people in Europe didn’t have much interest in his work. He also wanted to release the electrical power of Niagara Falls. His coming to the US was due, in part, to being hired by the Continental Edison Company in New York. They showed interest in his induction motor prototype.

Unfortunately, Tesla and Edison did not get along very well. They had vastly different opinions on how electrical current should be sent to people. This resulted in a battle of electricity. Edison stood solidly behind his original Direct Current, or DC method. This was wildly inefficient, but Edison already had an “empire” in place, ready to operate. Tesla theorized Alternating current, or AC current. This is what is currently powers all electrically-supplied homes around the World, due to its efficiency, and ability to travel over more than 2 miles. Both of which Direct Current couldn’t do well. After 2 miles, DC power lost much of its original strength after 2 miles, because it could not step-up to higher voltages for long-distance transmission. Direct Current, on the other hand, is sent first one way down a power line, then the other – switching direction every 60 seconds or so. This minimizes power loss, and allows the energy to be amplified to very high voltages. Ultimately, Tesla and George Westinghouse (who bought the patents on Tesla’s technology) won, which is why we all have Alternating current in our homes.

Tesla also invented many other electrically based things. The fluorescent light, the laser beam, and X-rays are just a few of his many achievements. He succeeded in his attempts to harness Niagara Falls. In 1895, the first hydroelectric power plant was designed for the Falls. Why don’t we hear much about Tesla? Tesla is widely unknown because Thomas Edison’s name came first. He started the company that is credited with the invention of hundreds of items, most notably the light bulb.

Nicola Tesla’s name is starting to be recognized, though. A major upcoming electric car manufacturer is named after him. Tesla Motors, is responsibly for the widely acclaimed Tesla Roadster. A purely electric sports car with credentials to rival the Ferrari’s of the world. 0 to 60 mph comes in less than 4 seconds and the battery pack hold over 250 miles in one charge. When people think electric car, this is the last sort of thing that pops in their mind. Soon enough, this hopeful American company will begin producing more electric vehicles, including a family car; soon enough, Nicola Tesla’s name will be on every one of those cars.

Tesla’s most important achievement of Nicola Tesla, perhaps, was the concept of Wireless transmission of electricity. This was tried, and proven by only Tesla himself. At his research facility in Colorado Springs, he managed to light 200 lamps without any wires at all. This is really amazing, because that sort of transmission would eliminate all extension cords, expensive wiring of houses, and ugly electric poles on the side of the street. He constructed a tower, at the Colorado Springs Location which would be meant to send wireless power anywhere on the planet.

Why isn’t this technology available today, you might ask? Well, first of all, Tesla’s funding was cut for the project. J.P. Morgan funded him, but when Morgan and Tesla disagreed on the use of the Tower, Morgan pulled out, saying, “If anyone can draw on the power, where do we put the meter?" So the tower was destroyed, (and it is said that Tesla worked on all of this in his head alone; that he never wrote anything down, because he feared his ideas would be stolen) and when Tesla died, so did all the knowledge he owned about this technology. However, Scientists are working on this again. In fact, researchers at MIT successfully managed to mimic Tesla’s idea on a much smaller scale. They were able to wirelessly light a 60-watt bulb from almost 7 feet away.

There is no contending that Nicola Tesla’s inventions have had a tremendous impact on our life, as we know it. His AC electricity is now the standard power for homes, and businesses around the world. Without AC, a person would have to live within 2 miles of an electric power plant to access the Direct Current from the plant. Coupled with his other inventions, our world would be dramatically different if it wasn’t for Tesla. Also, his theories, and experiments with wireless transmission of electricity has interested, and inspired countless scientists and inventors to mimic Tesla’s lost Legend. Due to all of these inventions, and their impact on our world, Nicola Tesla is a perfect nominee to be included in the Great Minds that shaped our Intellectual World list.