Anniversary of Tesla Observed

Niagara Falls (UP) — July was the 100th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, a little-remembered Yugoslav immigrant whose invention of the polyphase alternating current motor and system led to our modern electrical systems.

Tesla’s invention first was used on a practical basis in 1896 when electric power created by Niagara Falls was sent surging through transmission lines to Buffalo, 22 miles away. It marked the harnessing of the falls and the beginning of the age of electric power.

Despite the revolutionary impact of this invention Tesla is scarcely remembered today, only 13 years after his death. He was a strange and solitary man, preferring to live and work alone. So great was his desire for scientific knowledge that he vowed never to marry. He felt love would impede his work for science.

Worked For Edison.

Shortly after his arrival in America Tesla went to work in the laboratories of Thomas Edison in New York. He soon demonstrated his brilliance and received the recognition of Edison. But the two were worlds apart. Tesla favored alternating current, Edison direct current.

Tesla thought his system, though more complex, was better because electricity could be transmitted over long distances. With the Edison direct current system, power could be sent barely a mile from the power house. The eventual almost universal adoption of the Tesla AC system proved its superiority. But in the 1890s a battle raged over which system was best.

The builders of the Adams station at Niagara Falls soon recognized the value of being able to transmit and sell power to Buffalo and other cities, and they accepted the Tesla plan. The same generators that began running in November 1896 turn out electric power today in the Niagara Mohawk Power System. The station is a living memorial to early electrical engineering.

Had Many Inventions.

Tesla invented many more things common to our world today and demonstrated by his predictions his great foresight. He gave us the principles upon which radio and television exist and was several years ahead of Marconi with the wireless transmitter and receiver.

He designed and developed a radio-controlled boat before the turn of the century and created various forms of gaseous tube lighting. He predicted that one day a pilotless aircraft would be capable of flying thousands of miles and destroying its target with precise accuracy. He added that this device would prove a powerful argument for world peace.