Nikola Tesla Articles
The Johnsons, as he understood, were determined to tease him if he did not show clear interest in marrying J. P. Morgan’s daughter. Tesla could not decently encourage the girl in her desire, but he had to be extremely careful not to hurt her feelings, writes Tesla’s biographer.
After the musical number ended, the other guests also wanted his attention. He, however, sought out Marguerite, in whose company he enjoyed himself.
“Tell me, Miss, why don’t you wear jewelry like the others?” he asked, not entirely tactfully.
“With me that is not a matter of choice, Mr. Tesla!” the young pianist replied modestly. “But if I had enough money to load myself with diamonds, I would think of a smarter way to spend it.”
“What would you do in that case?” Tesla asked, even more curiously.
“I would most gladly buy a house in the country, although I would not like to move out of the suburbs…”
“Ah, Miss Merington, when I start earning millions I will solve your problem,” the famous scientist replied. “I will buy a whole block here in New York, build you a villa in the center and plant trees around it. That way you will have your country house and you will not have to leave the city…”
The Only Woman Who Ever Touched Him
“According to one of Tesla’s closest friends, Marguerite later claimed that she was the only woman who had ever touched Tesla. The friend dismissed it. There is no record of intimacy between the inventor and her or any other woman. The same trusted person said that En Morgan was literally throwing herself at Tesla. In any case, nothing indicated that they were anything more than friends. They would have parallel careers, because En would become the most important woman in the business she was engaged in. Although her name would be associated with a series of famous people, she would never marry,” Cheney writes.
Thus, beside Tesla’s name other beautiful, intelligent, and rich women were mentioned. However, none succeeded in what Katharine Johnson succeeded in — keeping his attention for more than two decades. Finally, no woman ever managed to become what many wanted — to be Mrs. Tesla.
Sarah Bernhardt (about whom the poet wrote: “I remembered all the hands of women in Botticelli”) courted Tesla in Paris in vain with polite but cold courtesy, at a time when the whole world fell at her slightest gesture, when she was the most famous woman on the planet.
