Genius Marred by Commercial and Interpersonal Shortcomings

Nikola Tesla is the genius whose understanding of the physics of electricity resulted in the technical breakthroughs that revolutionized our modern industrial society. These include industrial level generation and transmission of alternating current, fluorescent and neon lighting, and breakthroughs in wireless communications.

Sadly, as chronicled by author Marc Seifer, Tesla lacked commercial judgment and his iconoclastic personality resulted in needless battles with contemporary innovators such as Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, Charles Steinmetz, and Guglielmo Marconi. Initially he was backed by the most important banker of the age, J.P. Morgan, who became disillusioned with the inventor.

Early on, Tesla collaborated with George Westinghouse to light the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 and received prominent billing for Westinghouse’s use of the “Tesla Polyphase System”. Along with Westinghouse, he also had a significant role in harnessing the power of Niagara Falls to generate electricity and transmit power to the city of Buffalo, New York. Thus in the 1890s Tesla was widely recognized for his technical genius.

But Edison, Westinghouse, and Marconi could bring promising technological inventions to fruition, which was Tesla’s key failure.

Seifer chronicles many such examples. Both J.P. Morgan and John Jacob Astor advanced the inventor money to bring into production his patented fluorescent and neon lighting systems to compete with Edison’s incandescent light bulb. But Tesla was always on to the next technical breakthrough without exploiting what breakthroughs he had already achieved. He diverted Morgan’s funds to developing wireless communications systems, particularly a costly and never completed transmission tower on Long Island. Naturally this made Morgan and Astor furious as Tesla chased new theories and failed to deliver a return on their investment for what he had already discovered.

In 1899 Tesla refused to compete for a lighthouse contract involving experimentation with wireless communications. By contrast, Marconi seized this opportunity and moved ahead with ship to shore and ship to ship communications. Although Marconi’s system was technologically inferior to that of Tesla (and Marconi later pirated a superior Tesla oscillator, according to Seifer), Marconi kept winning contracts, testing his wireless technology under practical conditions, and making incremental improvements that allowed him to dominate the technology. Edison took the same practical approach to the rollout and commercial success of his innovations.

Beginning in 1907 and into the 1930s, Tesla began to advance wilder and wilder theories and schemes, including communication with extraterrestrials, the belief that he could transmit messages at faster than the speed of light, and the assertion that he had developed a system of particle death beams. While making extravagant claims, Tesla showed a perpetual reticence about revealing the particulars of his “discoveries”.

At the end of his life, then Tesla seemed to have “a great mind gone astray” and to fit the profile of the quintessential mad scientist.

The weakness of this book is that it attempts too much, trying to compensate for the lack of recognition of Tesla’s contributions. Seifer’s thorough research, including review of original source documents, is to be applauded. This is particularly illuminating as it relates to Tesla’s relationship with J.P. Morgan and George Westinghouse. Thus the book should be read as a summary of Tesla’s life and times, as the title subhead suggests.

Many critics of the book fault the author’s technical interpretations. Seifer’s writing style is uneven and the organization of the book is a bit patchwork as the author tries to cover all the bases of technology, Tesla’s personality, and the commercial and social fabric of his time. Still, the reader comes away with an understanding both of Tesla’s genius and the all too human flaws which have prevented him from receiving the recognition of his better known contemporaries.

In Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla (1996) Marc Seifer tells the story of Nicola Tesla, a Serbian who was once an inventor as famous as Thomas Edison and who matched Edison in his contributions to the applications of electricity. The name Tesla is now best known as the name of Elon Musk’s electric car company, but once it was a household name. What were Tesla’s contributions? Why did his name fade so quickly after his 1943 death? How lasting were his contributions? What motivated this eccentric genius?

Seifer gives us a thoroughly researched story of the life of an almost-forgotten genius and of his remarkable inventions in the “new” field of electricity. Some will perhaps be put off by the extensive descriptions of Tesla’s contributions, and it is fair to say that the book’s body is too long for its legs—I admit to scanning long sections, especially those on Tesla hobnobbing with high society. Perhaps the length is because this book was from Seifer’s doctoral dissertation (Saybrook Institute), a project that rarely inhibits verbosity. Still, this biography is well worth the reader’s time and diligence if you are interested in things electric, in the personalities and clashes of titanic people, in the conflict among large companies like General Electric, and in how our modern world began.

Born in Croatia in 1856, Tesla grew up in a Serbian Greek Orthodox family. At an early age he became interested in electricity and decided to become an engineer. His later attendance at an engineering institute set him on his path when a professor told him that it was impossible to build an Alternating Current (AC) motor without attaching a “commutator”—a device that takes a Direct Current (DC) power source and converts it to AC by mechanically reversing the electron flow each half-cycle. The resulting AC power is then used to rotate the motor’s output shaft, which drives a load attached to the shaft. In short, the pre-Tesla AC motor was a DC motor with mechanical conversion of output to AC.

Tesla decided to prove his professor wrong. He worked on a commutatorless AC motor until he found a theoretical solution in 1882. He was aided by his innate brilliance and by an eidetic memory that allowed him to visualize things in great detail; throughout his life Tesla reported seeing highly detailed images in vivid colors, as if he were on another planet. The Tesla AC motor, first publicly demonstrated in 1888, replaced the mechanical reversals of electron flow that a commutator created with reversals achieved by electromagnetism.

The design was simple, at least by electrical engineering standards. The device consisted of two magnets facing each other; between the magnets were two coils of wire: the outer coil, called a “stator,” and an inner coil, called a “rotor.” The rotor was fixed to an output shaft so that turning the rotor on its axis also turned the output shaft. Thus, the AC motor transformed the input of DC electrical power into rotation of the output shaft to run equipment.

The DC power input to the motor was used to spin the stator. This induced electron flow (“electricity”) in the stator, creating a rotating magnetic field at the spinning stator. Tesla’s motor ran by electrical “induction.” The rotating magnetic field around the stator "induced" an electrical flow at the rotor coil, which created a magnetic field. Because the stator’s magnetic field rotated but (at startup) the rotor’s did not, a twisting force (torque) was created that started the rotor spinning on its axis. Because the rotor was fixed to the output shaft, the shaft would rotate, driving the equipment.

An essential requirement of the Tesla AC motor's operation was to ensure that the magnetic fields at the stator and (now) rotating rotor always rotated at different speeds; this created a twisting force (torque) on the rotor that turned the rotor on its axis, thereby rotating the output shaft and driving the equipment. If the stator and rotor were turning at the same speed—a synchronous motor—there would be no torque and the motor would not work.

Thus, by substituting rotation of an output shaft via electromagnetic fields for rotation via a commutator, the Tesla AC motor eliminated the commutator. This was an important step in making electrical power a cost-effective, safe, and reliable energy source: commutators were expensive to purchase and to maintain, they were a source of inefficiency because much of the power input was wasted as heat emitted by the commutator, and they were a source of fires because as the commutator’s brushes deteriorated and metallic particles sloughed off, short circuits resulted.

Tesla, having invented a safe and reliable AC motor, was wedded to AC power. His design was generation of AC power at a central source, and transmission of AC to end users, where it could drive equipment or appliances using Tesla’s AC motor. After leaving the Edison Company, Tesla started his own company to promote AC power—and his AC motor—as the source of the nation’s electrical energy. Eventually Tesla sold his patents to George Westinghouse—an Edison nemesis because Westinghouse, like Tesla, saw AC as the power of the future.

In contrast to Tesla, Edison, the better known electrical wizard, was committed to DC power—his focus was on electrical lights, which at that time were solely DC-driven. His approach was to produce DC at a power plant and transmit it to end users. Before AC won the contest there were over 120 DC-generating plants built. Still, Tesla’s early work in AC power came to Edison’s attention and he hired Tesla for projects around his lab. Their relationship came to an end when Edison reneged on a promise to pay Tesla $50,000 if he could solve a certain problem, which he did. Edison’s reason for reneging was that the offer was a joke and Tesla should have understood that the promise was not made in earnest. If so, it was an example of the damage that humor can create in a work environment. Eventually Edison sold his Edison Electric patents to a new corporation named General Electric. The result was a heated race between Westinghouse and GE.

After selling his patents, Tesla worked at Westinghouse to modify his AC motor to work at the 133 Hertz frequency that they had selected as their standard. Tesla found that it was impossible to run an AC motor at a frequency that high: a commutator was still necessary. However, by reducing the input frequency to around 40 Hertz Tesla was able to demonstrate an effective AC motor. Since that time—the late 1890s—60 Hertz has been the standard AC frequency in the U.S. (Side Note: Westinghouse once promoted his 133 Hertz AC power for painless and instantaneous executions by electricity. To his dismay, he found that the trial victim frothed and bubbled, but he survived; Tesla urged him to use 60 Hertz and the execution went flawlessly at 60. The victim never reported enthusiasm for his repeated executions.)

The differences between AC and DC power became apparent as the field developed. Essentially, DC power dominated over very short transmission distances, but beyond a very few miles it exhibited far greater power attrition than did AC power. This inefficiency meant that the commercially dominant technology was transmission of AC power and conversion to DC, if needed, via a “rectifier” by the end user. Thus, Tesla was on the winning side even though Edison is the man we remember.

Tesla was a master at public relations, putting on shows in which he channeled as much as one million volts through his body, sending light out of his body with no harm done. As a result of his work on a 133 hertz motor, he understood that it wasn’t the voltage that mattered, it was the frequency of the electricity’s cycle: the million volts at a high frequency was benign, and as the frequency was reduced the amperage (rate of current flow) increased with resulting bodily damage. His lightshows demonstrated many of the characteristics of electromagnetism and became the talk of the nation, adding to the public’s appreciation of electricity. His demonstrations at the Hall of Electricity during the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago drew large crowds and spread the word about electricity far and wide.

Tesla’s contributions didn’t stop at the AC motor, which was essential to electrically operated equipment and to the advent of AC power transmission over long distances. He was also a major contributor to wireless communication, sending a wireless message five miles in 1896; he was a major factor in developing the vacuum tube, essential to early computers; he experimented with Roentgen’s X-Rays, using his own body (and still surviving to his 86th year); and he advocated wireless transmission of AC power.

Just as imitation is a sincere form of flattery, it is also a source of patent infringement litigation. Tesla found himself fighting off patent violators, among whom Westinghouse, General Electric, and Edison were only a few. Everyone who had ever worked in the electrical field discovered (with hindsight) that he had really discovered Tesla’s AC motor and other innovations. It got to the point where Tesla’s name was almost lost in the litany of self-claimed inventors. Tesla vigorously defended his primacy, but at the cost of devoting increasing time and energy to fight ing patent infringement cases. In fact, toward the end of his life he spent all of his time defending his patents, and he died in poverty, ground down by the law like the Jarndyces in Bleak House.

Four stars.

Since Tesla was such a fascinating personality I was expecting this biography to be a bit more dynamic. That said, Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla is still a great read albeit a bit dry.

There is room however, for a definitive biography of one of the great characters in the drama that was the 20th century.

Phenomenal recount of Teslas life. Filled with historical knowledge. Did not complete the entire book however. Fell short on chapter 38 ish as it started to lose sight of it's biography purpose.

Fascinating look at a genius's life. The impressions I got were:
- He was a brilliant inventor, but not good at commercially managing and developing his ideas. Edison was better
- He lived in a time were the possibilities and optimism for Electricity was boundless. there was nothing that could not be solved with electricity
- I think he lost a huge chuck of time, money and his sanity over the idea of wireless electrical distribution. I still not sure if this is because he was so far ahead of his time like the blade-less turbine or because it is just not feasible.

- Electricity and wireless were the internet of the day. So much VC money going into them

Typical mad scientist.

3.5 really...

Wizard is the extremely comprehensive biography of possibly one of the most interesting men to have ever lived, a man so cool they had to get David Bowie to play him – Nikola Tesla.

Before we begin, I should probably make it clear that while I am fascinated by science and the great thinkers that practice it, my mind does not work in that way at all (I only passed my Science GCSE after my mum condensed pretty much the entire syllabus into a series of silly cartoons a few days before my exams) and so the title of this book is made even more appropriate. My only real understanding of electricity being that when I flip a switch, my lights come on (when the bulbs haven't gone), it really may as well be magic as far as I'm concerned.

A genius with a talent for invention as well as for winding up his investors and a great showman whose incredible lightning spewing demonstrations would capture the public imagination before his grandiose pronouncements and appetite for self-publicity saw him later dismissed as something of a crank unable to finish a project, Tesla would invent many of the things we take for granted in the modern world whilst also contributing to many more. He would also be eternally screwed over and in debt, his work credited to and making others rich, his achievements only properly recognised long after his death.

Born in Smiljan in 1856 to a gifted family (particularly his mum, who was forever inventing new household appliances for herself) and possessing a photographic memory, Tesla was already far more accomplished by the time he'd left University than most of us could hope to be in a lifetime, having taken courses in arithmetic and analytical geometry, theoretical and experimental physics, integral calculus, analytical chemistry, mineralogy, machinery construction, botany, wave theory, optics, philosophy and higher maths, and speaking 8 languages. He’d also survived several near death experiences including plunging into boiling milk, drowning under a raft, being swept over waterfall, contracting cholera, and driving himself through overwork into a nervous collapse – something he would continue to do throughout his lifetime as he subsisted on bread and milk, sleeping only a few hours a night and pouring all of his energies into his work.

Moving to the US in 1884 to work for Thomas Edison’s company, Tesla would set out on his own after almost immediately receiving the first of many shaftings at Edison’s hands – being paid just $18 a day to redesign and reassemble much of the company’s equipment after having been promised $50,000. These shaftings would also continue throughout his life, and were as many and varied as his astounding array of inventions (which included an induction motor, electrical power distribution system, fluorescent and neon lights, wireless telecommunication, remote control, robotics and apparently even fricking laser beams) and came at the hands of not just Edison but the likes of Marconi, Westinghouse, Pupin, Steinmetz, JP Morgan and the US Government.

Facing a publicity backlash due to Edison’s dickish publicity campaign in which he electrocuted animals with Tesla’s competing AC system, mired in patent infringements and court battles, and forever toadying up to potential investors (mostly unsuccessfully, thanks to his habit of sending long letters bemoaning his hard luck and full of emotional blackmail, while asking for way more funds having abandoned agreed plans in favour of altogether grander schemes), Tesla would become far more paranoid, bitter and reclusive over time, allowing the weirder aspects of his personality free reign.

Amongst his many peculiarities were: an aversion to women's earrings and touching people’s hair, being sent into fits at the sight of pearls and fevers at the sight of a peach, insisting on living in hotels despite an almost pathological inability to pay his rent, where his mirrors must be draped and no sunlight must enter his room. And despite being a favourite of the ladies (especially of his friend’s wife, Mrs Katherine Johnson), he remained celibate – having eyes only for his work and, well, I’ll let him tell you:

“I have been feeding pigeons, thousands of them for years. But there was one, a beautiful bird, pure white with light grey tips on its wings; that one was different. It was a female. I had only to wish and call her and she would come flying to me. I loved that pigeon as a man loves a woman, and she loved me. As long as I had her, my life had purpose."

Tesla passed away at the age of 86, having outlived his pigeon, sending various secret agencies into frenzies as they tried to suppress his papers and get their hands on a rumoured death ray machine, Tesla having supposedly left a working model in a hotel basement in lieu of rent.

As a reading experience, due to the staggering amount of information imparted I sometimes struggled with Wizard - especially as much of it was highly technical information. This, coupled with the authors insistence on flying off on tangents and flitting around in time, meant that I often spent entire chunks completely befuddled and bewildered. But I still learned everything I could possibly want to know about one of the most interesting people to have ever lived, so I'm not going to hold too much against it.

And in case you're wondering, I'm firmly on the Tesla side of this rap battle.

Too long, didn't read: Drunk History Volume 6 - Nikola Tesla

**Also posted at Randomly Reading and Ranting**

This is a detailed (way too long) biography of the life of Nicola Tesla. It is dense, historical, and emphasizes the inventor's business dealings and patent turmoils. It goes into speculation about his personal life. It was painfully boring for me to read, but I stuck with it, out of misguided hope that the science of his inventions would be discussed. Eventually, I got to the part in the book where (spoiler alert) he dies. To my dismay, the chronicle continues, with government interest in his estate and design for a death ray.

Tesla was a human being, as flawed as any. He had some bonkers ideas, like that he contacted aliens, had discovered faster than light effects, could destroy the wold using its resonance frequency, etc. Marc Seifer does a terrible disservice to the reader by painting genius, wrong speculation, and outright delusion with the same brush.

Only at the very end were any of the technical issues addressed, and even then, no clear picture is presented on the viability of the crazy ideas. Instead, a cowardly and inaccurate "both sides" of the argument are presented.

This pisses me off, because in science, there aren't two sides to facts.

Seifer is a cautious word mincer, content to play in the safe playpen of historical documents.

This book is missing the most important thing, which drove Tesla all his life: Science.

I've always thought that Tesla was the hidden genius of world power, but that damn greedy ego-maniac Edison stole his magic thunder! You learn to hate the rival that does everything in his power to destroy the reputation of a genius, simply because I believe Edison knew Tesla was smarter. Granted, Tesla was a bit of an insane spark-wielding mama's boy, but hey, he had some serious brain power! There's all these theories that Tesla caused the Tunguska blast; that his ideas about hiding a ship from radar resulted in the crazy events of the Philadelphia Experiment, stuff like that. Great stuff! There are a few Tesla biographies out there, this is a good one to start with.

Premier livre du Marathon Tesla avec "Wizard: the Life and times of Nikola Tesla" de Marc Seifer. Biographie reconnue par la famille Tesla, elle présente l'inventeur Nikola Tesla, d'une manière relativement fidèle avec un focus particulier sur la manière dont il a mené sa vie d'inventeur pour développer (ou pas) ses inventions et ses interactions avec les financiers et les industriels de l'électricité. Très riche et basée sur un grand nombre de sources, de témoignages et de correspondances qu'il entretint durant sa vie vous découvriez, avec cette édition, même si ce n'est pas la plus exacte techniquement, un autre Nikola Tesla.

Pour lire la suite : Marathon Tesla - "Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla" par Marc J. Seifer

This is not an easy read. It's very dense in material, but does thoroughly explain things. It started to drag on for me around the half way point, but I think that was more of a me issue. If you're interested in science/biographies it's definitely an interesting read.

Nikola Tesla had abilities beyond that of many people, and though this book tried to present his life from all perspectives it is full of so much information pumped into so many different paragraphs that it becomes tedious. I had to take many breaks before deciding that this book is just a dry, hard read. I can usually push myself through a good book but how can one tell the story of a legend like Tesla in just one book? I'd much rather read the papers that he himself published and form my own idea of the man behind the myth.

My mp3 player died. But really, I was losing interest in this exhaustive and exhausting biography. May or may not pick it up again in the future.