Nikola Tesla - Great Benefactor of Mankind

Famed University Of Prague Graduate Saved French Company From Big Loss

Charles Batchellor Gave Nikola Tesla First Real Break In Electrical Career

By Adam Sudetic, Member, Lodge 519

DETROIT, MICH. — At the insistence of his father, "Prota" Milutin Tesla, young Nikola Tesla took a vacation of one year in order to regain his strength after his winning fight against the onslaught of cholera.

At the end of that time, he was sent to Polytechnic Institute in Graz, Austria, which was selected by his father as one of the oldest and finest institutions of learning in Europe.

Young Tesla studied exceedingly hard during his first year and tells us that "he started at three o'clock in the morning and continued until eleven o'clock in the evening, not excluding Sundays and holidays."

Said Tesla: — "In my first year I passed nine examinations very successfully. Among the professors  sors were Rogner, Professor of Mathematics and Geometry; Poeschl, Professor of Theoretics and Experimental Physics; and Dr. Alle, Professor of General Mathematics and Equations."

Their Sacrifice Great

In 1880 Tesla enrolled at the University of Prague, Prague, Bohemia.

He did so in accordance with the desire of his father, who wished to see his son complete his education at that University.

Here he continued to study Mathematics and Physics. And here, as in Graz, he continued with his endless experiments in alternating electrical current ideas.

By this time the young man learned that his parents were making too great a sacrifice in order to educate their son. So it was that upon graduating he heard that the new American Telephone invention had received an enthusiastic reception in Europe and posed the possibilities of jobs.

With the announcement that the phone system was to be installed soon in Budapest, Tesla applied for a job and the Hungarian government employed him as a draftsman.

Shortly thereafter he was promoted to a higher, more responsible post.

Accepts Job In Paris

The installation of the American telephone system in Budapest was supervised by a Mr. Puskas. He was to leave for Paris when his work here was completed.

Realizing Tesla's ability to do a fine job, Mr. Puskas invited the ambitious young man to accompany him to Paris. Tesla gladly accepted the invitation to work in that French metropolis.

Following his arrival in Paris, Tesla got a job with the Edison Company and first met Charles Batchellor. Mr. Batchellor was Manager of the Paris works at the time and an intimate friend of and assistant to Thomas Alva Edison, the far famed American inventor.

Tesla tells us that while in Paris "I had to travel from one place to another in France and Germany to cure the ills of the power plants."

Directors Amazed Him

There was a French company at the time which built a power plant at Strassburg, Germany.

This plant, as many others, had its troubles in those days. And because of Tesla's knowledge of the German language, together with his rapidly growing abilities and efficiency, he was sent to Strassburg to correct and improve the plant so that it would prove acceptable to the German government.

Here he corrected the wiring and vastly improved the dynamos, thus saving the French company from a serious loss. For this he was promised a promotion and a fitting reward.

But when he returned to Paris for his reward he ran into difficulties.

There were three directors in the company and each sent Tesla from one to the other with the claim that "the other" had the sole authority to act in the matter.

To his amazement, Tesla learned that the promises were but empty words.

(To Be Continued)