The New International Encyclopædia/Tesla, Nikola

TESLA, Nikola (1857—). An inventor and electrician, born in Croatia, Austria. After a course in the schools of his native province, he studied engineering at Gratz to prepare himself as a professor of mathematics and physics, but becoming interested in electricity, he devoted himself to the study of engineering. He worked in the telegraphic engineering department of the Austrian Government until 1881, where he was engineer to an electric company. He then came to America and found employment for a while with the Edison Company at Orange, N. J. Subsequently he devoted himself to experimental research and invented much improved apparatus. He devised the principle of the rotary magnetic field, which made possible the transmission of power by means of the alternating current, particularly on long-distance lines, a system since extensively employed. He is the inventor of various electrical appliances, including dynamos, transformers, induction coils, oscillators, and arc and incandescent lamps, but is principally known for his researches in the matter of alternating currents of high frequencies and very high potentials.