Profile of the Day: Nikola Tesla

On this day in 1943, inventor Nikola Tesla died at the age of 86. He is remembered for his groundbreaking discoveries in the production, transmission, and application of electric power.

Image: Nikola Tesla / Library of Congress

Tesla was born on July 10, 1856 in the village of Smiljan in the Austro-Hungarian Empire (what is today Croatia). His father, Milutin Telsa, was an Eastern Orthodox priest, and his mother, Đuka Mandić, whose father was also an Orthodox priest. Although his mother had no formal education, she showed a talent for making home craft tools and mechanical appliances. Tesla credited his mother for his creative abilities.

In 1884, Tesla immigrated to the United States. He briefly worked as engineer for Thomas Edison, but quit after a heated dispute over unpaid wages. He continued his work in electricity, developing some of his greatest inventions, including the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system. Ahead of his time, his invention of the “Tesla coil” laid the foundations of wireless technologies and is still used in radio technology today.

Sadly, Tesla never received financial success for his groundbreaking inventions. A recluse during the last years of his life, Tesla died alone in his room at the Hotel New Yorker on January 7, 1943 at the age of 86.

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