Nikola Tesla

  • Michael Faraday

    discovers electromagnetic induction
  • Nikola Tesla is born

    during a lightning storm at the stroke of midnight
  • Tesla develops cholera

    at age 17
  • James Clerk Maxwell

    proves light is electromagnetic radiation
  • Tesla travels to Austria

    to start his education
  • Thomas Edison

    invents the first lightbulb
  • Tesla moves to Prague

    to continue studies
  • Tesla moves to Budapest

    to work and experiment with electricity
  • Edison creates first electrical power system

    funded by J.P. Morgan
  • Tesla arrives to New York

    with 4 cents and a recommendation letter in his pocket
  • Tesla works at Edison Machine Works

    founded by Thomas Alva Edison, but quits after being stiffed a $50,000 bonus
  • Tesla unveils new motor to the world

    after opening his own lab near Edison's
  • Heinrich Hertz

    sends radio waves into space and creates the first radio receiver and transmitter
  • Tesla and Westinghouse

    Tesla wins 22 patents, and is offered $1 million for them, plus a $2 royalty
  • War of Currents

    Edison sets out to disprove alternating currents, and uses it as a death penalty
  • Throughout the 1890s,

    Tesla created neon and fluorescent illumination, took the first x-rays, and wirelessly transmitted energy
  • early 1890s, Marconi

    develops wireless telegraphy
  • Westinghouse company is broke

    and Tesla is dropped from his contract
  • First World's Fair to be lit with electricity

    is lit with the Egg of Columbus, which proved Tesla's alternating current's strength
  • Tesla returns to New York

    and banishes himself from society
  • Tesla transmits a signal

    to 50 miles away
  • Tesla's laboratory catches fire

    on the Ides of March
  • Niagra power system goes online

    and is funded by Westinghouse
  • Tesla "destroyed his sexuality"

    by the age of 40
  • Tesla patents the fundamentals for radio

    but only gets credit for it 50 years later
  • Tesla attaches an oscillator to an iron pillar

    the building trembles
  • Tesla controls a boat

    with wireless radio waves
  • Tesla moves to Colorado Springs

    and tells reporters he is sending a signal to Paris, but really tries to send one to space. He receives a signal from space.
  • Tesla masters lightning

  • Marconi looks for sponsors

    and is denied wireless patents because they are similar to Tesla's
  • Early 1900s

    Tesla is sponsored by J.P. Morgan. Marconi uses Tesla's technology and takes credit, so Morgan decides to back Marconi insteadl
  • Tesla makes the aurora borealis

    but he can't transmit to the atmosphere
  • Marconi gets Tesla's patent for the radio

  • Tesla's patents expire

    and Tesla goes broke while people use his ideas
  • Marcone is awarded the Nobel Prize

  • Edison and Tesla are rumored to share the Nobel Prize

    but it is rumored Tesla didn't want to share, so neither are awarded.
  • Tesla sues Marconi

    for patent infringement but doesn't have enough money for legal fees
  • Tesla comes back to life

    at age 75 and receives more attention from scientists
  • Tesla makes plans for new power sources

    and almost strikes a deal with England for $35 million
  • Tesla is struck by a taxi

    at age 81, so Westinghouse pays his boarding for the rest of his life
  • Tesla dies

    in his hotel room at age 87
  • Marconi's patents are infracted

    so Tesla is given credit for the radio
  • After Tesla's death

    his work is sent to his home country, though many fear he could have created a death ray.
  • Magnetic induction unit of measurement

    is named a Tesla (T)