The Discovery of the Tesla Coil and Transformer
Welcome to Nikola Tesla's autobiography My Inventions. Tesla was 63 years old when this text was first published in the Electrical Experimenter magazine in 1919.
I was taking electronics engineering classes in college when I first learned about Nikola Tesla. I discovered that Tesla developed several of the most important technologies we use today. I thought it strange that Tesla had contributed so much to the world, yet he's virtually unknown to most people. He's a true unsung hero. I became so interested in Tesla that I eventually built my own Tesla coil, I wrote a Tesla coil design program called TeslaMap and created the Tesla Coil Design, Construction and Operation Guide. But enough about me.
It seems any mention of Nikola Tesla must be accompanied by a few obligatory proverbs - he was a genius, he transformed the world, he was ahead of his time, etc. But few people know that he was more than a great inventor. After reading My Inventions I discovered that Tesla was quite eccentric, he had a good sense of humor and he was quite a ladies man (although he never married). He suffered from hallucinations and several undiagnosed mental disorders, likely Obsessive Compulsive Disorder with a touch of Autism - possibly making Tesla a genuine "mad scientist".
My Inventions is full of fascinating and sometimes bizarre stories. Tesla tells us how he narrowly escaped death several times, travelled the world, rubbed elbows with celebrities, captains of industry and the greatest scientists of the time. In one particularly strange incident Tesla describes being chased by a frantic mob in a case of mistaken identity. It's difficult to find a more intriguing and strange autobiography.
We're fortunate that Tesla's autobiography has survived the decades. It gives us a glimpse into Tesla's enthralling life in his own words. Perhaps after reading My Inventions you'll also be compelled to build your own Tesla coil (if you're electrically inclined) or investigate the profound changes Tesla made to our modern world.
The only grammatical changes I've made to the text are minor alterations that conform to APA formatting standards and updating words to modern equivalents that do not effect the subject matter. For example, "prest" has been changed to "pressed". I also corrected a few spelling errors, some appear to be the result of faulty computer scanning and translation. For example, "rnania" (r-n-ania) has been corrected to "mania".
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Thank you,
Kevin Wilson