Nikola Tesla Articles
Many Women Loved Him — Even Sarah Bernhardt
HANDSOME, INTELLIGENT, AND ENIGMATICALLY SMILING
Written by: Darko Spasić
Even today, Tesla’s name carries a certain stereotype. He is described as a confirmed bachelor, a man who lived the solitary life of an eccentric, tormented by phobias and full of quirks. He supposedly spent his twenty-hour working days in strict asceticism, shunning all society, indifferent to women, alone, dedicated only to science — saint-like, tearing up contracts worth millions of dollars, only to die penniless, without family or anyone of his own… Some even go so far as to call Tesla an “alien,” claim his patents were the result of “parapsychological activities,” and portray him as a helpless being. Was it really like that?
Few people would admit they know nothing at least about Nikola Tesla’s scientific work. Whether we mention electric current, wireless power transmission, radio, television, computers — all of these, and much more, incorporate his visionary inventions. Having finally received an international physical unit named after him, that work is truly inscribed among the immortal achievements that have benefited all of humanity.
So many books have been written about Tesla — all of them, without exception, primarily in praise of his great discoveries and monumental scientific legacy. There are also several biographies and even an autobiography. Not to mention newspaper articles. And yet, above all that, Tesla’s private personality has remained completely in the shadows.
To shed at least some light on the face hidden in the shadow of the “master of light,” as American journalists called him, his recently published correspondence with relatives and a look into Serbian cultural history will help…
None of this would have been possible without the romantic poet Laza Kostić, who suddenly decided in the Krušedol monastery to write to his scientist friend in America: “Dear Tesla, I want to marry you off!”
- How the poet Laza Kostić decided to marry his friend Nikola Tesla to the famous beauty Lenka Dunđerski — and why Tesla didn’t even blink at a dowry of a million dollars
- Although she was still a high-school girl, the beautiful En Morgan, daughter of the famous tycoon John Pierpont Morgan, pestered her father to introduce her to the famous Tesla, with whom she was in love
