There goes Tesla

Nikola Tesla — inventor and electrician, a wizard, you might say, second only to Edison. He is a tall, slender chap with the face of a clerk or a salesman. This brilliant young electrician, who undoubtedly is the foremost thinker of the world in his chosen field, is honestly and sincerely modest. No writer who has tried to get him to talk for publication has any doubts on that score.

"It is an embarrassment to me," he says, "that my work has attracted much public attention, not only because I believe that an earnest man who loves science more than all else should let his work speak for him if it will, but because I am afraid that some of the scientists whose friendship I value very much suspect me of encouraging newspaper notoriety." Mr. Tesla reverted to this matter several times in the course of conversation and is evidently sensitive about it.