Nikola Tesla is well known in history as a man who was ahead of his time. Alongside, and perhaps mostly against, Edison he developed the electricity grid, as well as countless improvements to electrical equipment and many original inventions. Recently it was pointed out that the induction lamp – a ‘modern’ invention – is actually almost identical to a design that Tesla made in the 1800s. As such there’s a lot to be said about Tesla, but there’s also a lot about his early life – events that perhaps shaped his greatness – that people don’t know.
From the Beginning…
Tesla was born in what was then part of the Austrian Empire, now Croatia, in 1856. His father was a priest, and his mother was an illiterate inventor of sorts, who enjoyed making intricate wooden tools. When Nikola was just five his brother was killed in a horse riding accident, and it has been said that Nikola himself may have caused the accident by startling the horse. Whatever the details, Nikola certainly seems to have been effected by something in his early years, as he became something of a dysfunctional character by the time he was a student.
Near-Death Experience Turned Tesla to Religion
Tesla’s journey to becoming a student was not as easy one. He was almost killed by a bout of cholera, during which his father promised him that if he survived he could go to engineering college. Without this near-death experience he would have been destined to join the priesthood. Before he could fully recover a draft was called, and to avoid service in the army he fled to the mountains and lived as a hunter for a short time. He read many books during this isolation and developed his view of the world.
A Gambling Man
His time at university was not entirely successful. Initially he showed amazing promise, achieving top grades in all exams, and working so hard that his professors wrote to his father warning that he would study himself to death. Sadly in the second year he became addicted to gambling, and before he could complete his course he ran out of money. As such he didn’t even graduate from university. He stopped contacting his family and ran away to a remote part of the countryside. Most people assumed that he had killed himself.
Began His Engineering Career In Budapest
And yet, from these chaotic beginnings, Tesla was already taking steps towards his remarkable career. After recovering from the meltdown he found work in Budapest on telegraph systems, and by the time he left there for America he had a reference in his pocket from one of Edison’s engineers describing him as one of the two great men in electrical engineering. On the ship to American there was a mutiny, with Edison almost being thrown overboard and his entire luggage – barring that letter – being lost. That was how he arrived for his life in the new world.
