Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla
By Karoline A. Woodhouse
Introduction Although the use of electricity dates back to Benjamin Franklin’s days, it was not practical for use in the home until one person changed the way science thinks about it- Nikola Tesla. Nikola Tesla’s childhood, greatest inventions, and position as the electrician for the World’s Fair all shaped how he revolutionized the use of electricity and brought it to everyone in America. Childhood and Personal Life Born in a farm house on July 9, 1856 in Smijlan, Croatia to happy parents Djouka and Mijulin, Nikola Tesla was the fourth child. Nikola Tesla proved to be inventive, just like his mother. Although Nikola’s mother had little formal education, she was extraordinarily intelligent. She invented several tools to make household life easy, including things like egg beaters, looms, and butter churns. Tesla’s father was a priest. Young Tesla was extremely motivated by pride. Fights with friends or envy of their possessions lead him to inventing new better things. One time, he got in an argument with his friends and they excluded him from their fishing trip. In a fury, Tesla made his own fishing hook and went out to capture some fish himself. Because he did not own fishing bait, he decided to make the hook shiny so that the frogs would be interested. His idea worked, and he ended up coming home with about two dozen frogs when his friends came home with nothing. (Aldrich 13) Because Nikola Tesla’s hobbies seemed strange to his peers, Nikola Tesla did not have many friends and often isolated himself from others his age. This caused him to spend even more time on his inventions. One of his best childhood inventions was an insect powered propeller. It
consisted of a propeller and a pulley. Tesla glued June bugs to each of the propeller blades. The bugs flapped their wings in an attempt to get away, but all they ever did was spin the propeller. (Aldrich 14) Young Tesla was also a hard worker. He was inspired by the
By Karoline A. Woodhouse
Introduction Although the use of electricity dates back to Benjamin Franklin’s days, it was not practical for use in the home until one person changed the way science thinks about it- Nikola Tesla. Nikola Tesla’s childhood, greatest inventions, and position as the electrician for the World’s Fair all shaped how he revolutionized the use of electricity and brought it to everyone in America. Childhood and Personal Life Born in a farm house on July 9, 1856 in Smijlan, Croatia to happy parents Djouka and Mijulin, Nikola Tesla was the fourth child. Nikola Tesla proved to be inventive, just like his mother. Although Nikola’s mother had little formal education, she was extraordinarily intelligent. She invented several tools to make household life easy, including things like egg beaters, looms, and butter churns. Tesla’s father was a priest. Young Tesla was extremely motivated by pride. Fights with friends or envy of their possessions lead him to inventing new better things. One time, he got in an argument with his friends and they excluded him from their fishing trip. In a fury, Tesla made his own fishing hook and went out to capture some fish himself. Because he did not own fishing bait, he decided to make the hook shiny so that the frogs would be interested. His idea worked, and he ended up coming home with about two dozen frogs when his friends came home with nothing. (Aldrich 13) Because Nikola Tesla’s hobbies seemed strange to his peers, Nikola Tesla did not have many friends and often isolated himself from others his age. This caused him to spend even more time on his inventions. One of his best childhood inventions was an insect powered propeller. It
consisted of a propeller and a pulley. Tesla glued June bugs to each of the propeller blades. The bugs flapped their wings in an attempt to get away, but all they ever did was spin the propeller. (Aldrich 14) Young Tesla was also a hard worker. He was inspired by the
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