Tesla, Electrical Wizard, Found Dead

New York (UP) — Nikola Tesla, 86, the electrical genius who discovered the fundamental principle of modern radio, was found dead in his hotel room last night.

The maid who cleaned his room every day found the body. Tesla had lived alone, and the hotel management did not believe he had any near relatives.

Despite his more than 700 inventions, he was not wealthy.

He was the first to conceive an effective method of utilizing alternating current, and in 1888 patented the induction motor, which converted electrical energy into mechanical energy more effectively and economically than by direct current. Among his other principal inventions were arc lighting and the Tesla coil.

Tesla was born in Smiljan, Croatia, when it was part of the old Austro-Hungarian empire. His first electrical invention was the telephone repeater, which he perfected in 1881 while working for the Austrian government.

Three years later, he came to the United States, became a citizen and an associate of the late Thomas A. Edison. Later he established the Tesla iaboratory in New York and devoted himself to research.