Nikola Tesla was born on July 10, 1856. He was of Serbian nationality and was born in Smiljan, Austrian Empire(modern-day Croatia). He was an inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and futurist who is best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system. He emigrated to the US in 1884 and became a naturalized citizen. He worked for a short time at the Edison Machine Works in New York City before striking out on his own. He developed the Tesla Coil, an electrical resonant transformer circuit in 1891. It is used to produce high-voltage, low-current, high frequency alternating-current electricity.
1888 was a time of extreme competition between electric companies and the three big firms, Westinghouse (where Tesla was a consultant), Edison, and Thomson-Houston, were trying to out compete each other. There was a now famous “War of Currents” propaganda campaign going on with Edison Electric trying to claim their direct current system was better and safer than the Westinghouse alternating current system.
Tesla acquired 300 patents for his inventions and is responsible for many discoveries that increased our understanding of science; such as x-rays, the first hydro electric power plant, the Tesla induction motor, and wireless transmission.
He died on January 7 1943, at the age of 86 of coronary thrombosis. He never married, his only “relationship” according to his own words was with a pigeon that he “loved like a man loves a woman”.