Nikola Tesla, 1856-1943 - Editorial

(Pratt, p. 1106) — Nikola Tesla was one of the most brilliant inventors of his time. His contributions to electrical engineering and to the then infant field of radio were tremendous. He is best known for his invention of the rotating electric field in ac machinery. This one invention was responsible for the worldwide adoption and development of ac polyphase systems, as opposed to dc systems, for the transmission of electric power. Actually, most of his life was spent in experimenting with high-frequency phenomena and his achievements in this area were so far ahead of his time that the significance of his work was not fully appreciated until many years later. It is for this reason that even today his many accomplishments are not as widely known as those of his contemporaries. This year the one hundredth anniversary of his birth is being commemorated in the United States and in Yugoslavia, where he was born. The IRE is participating in this event by publishing in this issue an article prepared by the Chairman of the IRE History Committee which summarizes and appraises the remarkable career of Nikola Tesla.