Yeah thats him. Sitting in a shower of lighting. The most important man who ever walked this earth and you most likely didn’t know who he was. For me electricity is the most important invention ever made and he is the master of sparks, bolts and lightning.

Well maybe Ammonium Nitrate as a fertilizer may be the most important invention ever made because it is pretty much responsible for the population explosion in the 20th century but lets put that argument aside. Electricity is everywhere.
But who do you think invented the groundwork for electricity as we know it today? Edison, Einstein? Nobody I asked knew the correct answer. Even two teachers of my little brothers high school physics class didn’t know the answer: It’s Nikola Tesla.

He layed the foundation of what we may know today as alternating current. Even though Edison is the the father of direct current, the direct current system is in very limited use today. Alternating current is just superiour in many ways. One of them being the most important: You can transport it over miles and miles with little loss in power.

So why does every child in Cumberland Kentucky know the name of Edison but nobody the name of Tesla? There may be some that recongnize the name from the famous video game series Command and Conquer where his “Tesla Coil” zapped foes to bits and pieces. And as you can see in this video you can have lots of fun with a tesla coil:

Still his genius is quite unknown, so lets put it in one sentence: “He invented a fucking wirelessly controlled electric submarine in the 19th century when most people didn’t even have a freaking lamp at their bed to read at night.” Yeah you read right; in the 19th century. Some of his other inventions are: FM Radio, the induction motor (!) an Atomic Death Ray and Wireless Energy. Wireless energy, like wifi , for your fleshlight. His inventions are so awesome that you read over the word Atomic Death Ray. In his own Manhattan Project he invented a huge coil, which in his own words would destroy “armies of soldiers”.
He may also be related to more than 1200 additional patents.

Yeah and he was batshit insane. Some claim he took his “manhood” (whatever that exactly means – sounds painful) and had a strange obsession with pigeons and numbers. He was also disgusted by human hair and was asexual but that only makes him more interesting. There are several texts and videos out there. Have a look at the sources I have collected and make your own conclusions. Regardless of how much you watch and read about him today. Just remember his name.

To understand why you didn’t knew Nikola Tesla in the first place; watch the videos and read the links on Nikola Tesla’s badassery after the break.

There are several sources out there. Some are more trustworthy than others. As usual.

Tesla – Master of Lightning

The Missing Secrets Of Nikola Tesla (Quite corny – still interesting)

Coast to Coast AM Interview

This radio interview is a nice introduction to his work but goes a little bit deeper into the rabbithole. Coast to Coast AM is regularly interviewing “Psychic Vampires” so take it with a grain of salt.

Check these links for additional information:

http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/index.html

http://www.teslauniverse.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla

http://www.badassoftheweek.com/tesla.html

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