Nikola Tesla Books
NIKOLA TESLA
I Homeland and Parents of Nikola Tesla
In the western part of Yugoslavia, rising steeply above the very coast of the Adriatic Sea, over a length of about one hundred kilometers, stands the rugged Velebit mountain. On the other side of this mountain, on its gentler slopes facing inland, stretches the region of Lika, where, in the village of Smiljan, near the town of Gospic, Nikola Tesla was born on July 10, 1856.
Nikola Tesla's father, Milutin Tesla, was a Serbian Orthodox priest, and his mother, Djuka, was from the old Serbian Mandic family, which for a long time had produced priests in that region. Both of Tesla's families, on his father's and mother's side, were known throughout Lika for their natural giftedness, so it is believed that Tesla inherited his talent equally from both parents.
Tesla's father was the son of an officer who had served in Napoleon's army. In his youth, he received a good military upbringing, but later he left the army and devoted himself to the priesthood. He was an educated man, a philosopher of the naturalist school, a writer, and an excellent speaker. He raised his son Nikola using original methods. He gave him daily exercises that consisted, for example, of guessing what another person was thinking, finding flaws in the way an idea was expressed, repeating long sentences, or performing extended mental calculations.
Nikola Tesla's mother was endowed with great inventive abilities. She invented several practical devices for household and agricultural use, which significantly facilitated her work. In making women's handicrafts, she was a true artist. Her embroidery and textiles, with beautiful patterns and designs, aroused admiration throughout the entire region. In her family there were distinguished clergy and military figures, among whom the most notable was her own brother, Nikola (Petar) Mandic, Metropolitan of Zvornik. She died in 1892, and Tesla, after delivering lectures in London and Paris, barely managed to reach home in time to see her for the last time.
