Nikola Tesla

Born in 1856 in Smiljan—then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire—Tesla was a Serbian prodigy with a photographic memory and a brain wired for invention. As a child, he saw visions of light and patterns he couldn’t explain, sparking an early curiosity about energy, electricity, and what lies beyond the visible.

After studying physics and math in Europe, Tesla made his way to America in 1884 with four cents in his pocket and a head full of wild ideas. He landed a job with Thomas Edison, only to quit when Edison refused to pay him for improving his designs. Tesla then struck out on his own—and changed the current of history.

Tesla’s alternating current system won the ‘War of the Currents’ against Edison’s direct current, making long-distance electrical transmission possible. With George Westinghouse as a partner, Tesla’s AC tech powered the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and lit up cities around the world. He also designed early hydroelectric generators at Niagara Falls.

But Tesla didn’t stop there. He invented the Tesla coil, experimented with X-rays, piloted radio-controlled boats, and even tried transmitting power wirelessly through the Earth. His Wardenclyffe Tower aimed to offer free global energy—but financiers backed out when they realized it wouldn’t make money.

Tesla’s final decades were marked by poverty, pigeons, and press conferences where he promised earthquake machines and antiwar death rays. He died alone in a New York hotel room in 1943. The world had already moved on. But decades later, his patents, ideas, and visionary blueprints would earn Tesla the recognition he never got in life.

Tesla's life raises the question: what do we owe to our visionaries? He gave us the power grid, but died broke. He dreamed of wireless energy, but was shut down for dreaming too big. Today, we use his technology every day. It's time we recognize that the future often starts with a sketch in a notebook—and a mind society doesn’t yet understand.