While his accomplishments that we use every day are astounding enough in their own right, there are some fun items that came later in his life (the papers on which were snapped up by the FBI of course). A few of my faves:
- radio transmission (earlier credited to Marconi, decision revised by US Patent Office in the ‘00s.
- transmission of power without wires over any distance.
- amplification of power.
- free (as in, no cost to you) electricity.
- world peace
The last of these was the proverbial “peace ray”—in effect, a small electrical energy amplifier which could be targeted at any area of land, sea, or sky and deliver a knockout punch to whoever was attempting to wage war with you. Simple enough and cheap enough to be used by any nation, no matter how small. Tesla intended for every nation to own such equipment, and therefor make war impossible.
Of course, one mans peace ray is another mans death ray, so…
As far as the power amplifier and transmission of power without wires, this would have provided all of the energy needed for domestic, industrial, commercial, and transportation. At zero cost, and with zero emissions. Wonder who might have been upset by that thought…
In addition to his electrical work, he also designed and patented a whole bunch of stuff: like perpetual fountains and so forth. Very much a renaissance man, the opposite of the hack and credit-grabber Edison, who would insist that he be credited (often as sole inventor) on ideas produced by his employees.
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