Book Review: The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla:

The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla: T. C. MARTIN (Barnes & Noble Books, New York, 1992,496 pp., £7.95 hardback) 'Like Einstein, he was an outsider, and, like Edison, he was a wide-ranging generalist'. Thus wrote Margaret Cheney in her book: Tesla, Man Out of Time. Nikola Tesla was born in Croatia, of Serbian stock, in 1856. He went on to study at the Polytechnic Institute of Graz, in what was then Hungary, with the intention of becoming a professor of mathematics and physics, but, in his second year, he decided to study engineering instead. After graduating, he studied languages in Prague and Budapest, worked for the Hungarian government telegraph and telephone industry, and then went on to work in the electric-lighting industry for a company in Paris. Here, he came into contact with many Americans, from whom he learnt of the encouragement given to inventors in the U.S.A. In 1884, he emigrated to the U.s.A., where he was associated for a time with Thomas Edison (1847-1931), but they later fell out, when Edison refused to pay him for a particular invention. Not long after, he became unemployed, and poverty stricken. Some years afterwards, as a result of his own efforts and inventions, Tesla became a millionaire. One of his two most important contributions to electrical engineering was his belief in the transmission and distribution of electrical power using high-value alternating voltages, when others believed in using direct voltages. As a result, he designed and developed a.c, generators, transformers, and a.c. motors, his other most important contribution being the brushless, a.c. induction motor. These beliefs were in direct contrast to Edison who firmly, and enduringly, believed in d.c. utilisation. Along with the American businessman and inventor, George Westinghouse (1846-1914), who manufactured the equipment designed by Tesla, Tesla eventually won the day. He ultimately succeeded in the 'a.c. versus d.c. controversy', when they obtained the Niagara Falls hydroelectric-power contract, in 1893. It is, perhaps, interesting to note that Tesla had over 700 patents, whereas Edison reached the phenomenal number of nearly 1300, a record which no other inventor has ever approached. This book is the record of the pioneering work of this genius and great inventor. It includes lectures, articles and discussions, on his work. It is divided into 4 parts as follows: Part I Polyphase Currents; Part 2 The Tesla Effects with High-Frequency and High-Potential Currents; Part 3 Miscellaneous Inventions and Writings and Part 4 Early Phase Motors and the Tesla Mechanical and Electrical Oscillator. There is a biographical introduction, a comprehensive index, and many old photographs and diagrams are reproduced within its pages. The book is extremely good value, especially when I compare it with the historical books which I have previously reviewed. Readers in the United Kingdom may obtain the book from: