Nikola Tesla Articles
her own way she did so. But neither would Tesla probably have been Tesla if he had answered differently.
Tesla Idealized Women
To the scientific world in Paris during his tour, Tesla presented his fundamental discoveries in the field of radio technology. It is interesting that he did so a decade and a half before Marconi, with whom he later fought a dispute over it for half a century. Although the Italian scientist was even awarded the Nobel Prize for the invention of radio, the court finally had to decide the dispute in Tesla’s favor and thus confirm who was actually the legitimate “father of radio,” but unfortunately only after both scientists were no longer alive. However, unfortunately again, even today this great injustice has not been properly corrected.
As for the impression Tesla’s lecture in Paris made on the also most eminent gathering of experts, the French electrical engineer André Blondel gave testimony:
“Tall, slender and elegant, with an inspired appearance, speaking perfect French without an accent, Tesla looked like a real magician revealing to his deeply excited listeners a world of new phenomena they had never even suspected…”
And from Paris he almost fled. This time it was not to escape the honors shown to him. To the Paris hotel “De la Paix,” where he was staying, a telegram arrived from Gospić. It was reported that his mother was on her deathbed. He immediately left the tour and the honors, packed his things, boarded the Orient Express, and headed for Gospić…
Psychoanalysts are ready to claim that Tesla idealized women.
In his autobiography he devoted the most beautiful lines precisely to his mother Đuka:
“My mother was a first-class inventor and would, I believe, have achieved very much had she not been so far removed from modern life and the many possibilities it offers. She invented and made many devices. She wove the most beautiful patterns with threads she herself had spun. She even sowed seeds, grew plants, separated fibers. She worked tirelessly, from dawn to late at night, and a great part of the clothes we wore and the furniture we had in the house was the work of her hands. When she had passed her sixtieth year, her fingers were still so dexterous that she could tie three knots on an eyelash.”
Vision of His Mother’s Death
When he arrived in Gospić he found his mother still alive. Although in agony, she recognized him the moment she briefly regained consciousness. They saw each other, and that was the most important thing for both of them. She died on the eve of Easter, on Holy Saturday, 16 April 1892. Tesla devoted special attention to that painful event in his autobiography too, connecting it with his premonition of the hour of his mother’s death, thereby in a peculiar way emphasizing even more his connection with her:
