The Inventions, Researches and Writings of Nikola Tesla quotes

Nikola Tesla, in whom the world has already recognized one of the foremost of modern electrical investigators and inventors. No attempt whatever has been made here to emphasize the importance of his researches and discoveries.

Great ideas and real inventions win their own way, determining their own place by intrinsic merit.

But with the conviction that Mr. Tesla is blazing a path that electrical development must follow for many years to come, the compiler has endeavored to bring together all that bears the impress of Mr. Tesla's genius, and is worthy of preservation.

Tesla's genius, and is worthy of preservation. Aside from its value as showing the scope of his inventions, this volume may be of service as indicating the range of his thought.

There is intellectual profit in studying the push and play of a vigorous and original mind.

Although the lively interest of the public in Mr. Tesla's work is perhaps of recent growth, this volume covers the results of full ten years.

He learned also of the ready encouragement given in the United States to any inventor who could attain some new and valuable result.

The resolution was formed with characteristic quickness, and abandoning all his prospects in Europe, he at once set his face westward.

Arrived in the United States, Mr. Tesla took off his coat the day he arrived, in the Edison Works. That place had been a goal of his ambition, and one can readily imagine the benefit and stimulus derived from association with Mr.

He learned also of the ready encouragement given in the United States to any inventor who could attain some new and valuable result. The resolution was formed with characteristic quickness, and abandoning all his prospects in Europe, he at once set his face westward.

Arrived in the United States, Mr. Tesla took off his coat the day he arrived, in the Edison Works.

That place had been a goal of his ambition, and one can readily imagine the benefit and stimulus derived from association with Mr. Edison, for whom Mr. Tesla has always had the strongest admiration.

These interesting figures, which, of course, might be supplemented by others more elaborate and of later date, are cited to show that the efficiency of the system has not had to wait until the present late day for any demonstration of its commercial usefulness.

An invention is none the less beautiful because it may lack utility, but it must be a pleasure to any inventor to know that the ideas he is advancing are fraught with substantial benefits to the public.

The best description that can be given of what he attempted, and succeeded in doing, with the rotating magnetic field, is to be found in Mr.

A Crookes electric radiometer is also spun around when connected to one of the terminals of the coil, but only at very high exhaustion or at ordinary pressures.

There is still another and more striking peculiarity of such a high frequency streamer, namely, it is hot.

The heat is easily perceptible with frequencies of about 10,000, even if the potential is not excessively high. The heating effect is, of course, due to the molecular impacts and collisions.

The heat is easily perceptible with frequencies of about 10,000, even if the potential is not excessively high. The heating effect is, of course, due to the molecular impacts and collisions.

Could the frequency and potential be pushed far enough, then a brush could be produced resembling in every particular a flame and giving light and heat, yet without a chemical process taking place.

The hot brush, when properly produced, resembles a jet of burning gas escaping under great pressure, and it emits an extraordinary strong smell of ozone.

Could the frequency and potential be pushed far enough, then a brush could be produced resembling in every particular a flame and giving light and heat, yet without a chemical process taking place.

The hot brush, when properly produced, resembles a jet of burning gas escaping under great pressure, and it emits an extraordinary strong smell of ozone.

The great ozonizing action is ascribed to the fact that the agitation of the molecules of the air is more violent in such a brush than in the ordinary streamer of a static machine.

… hundred thousand, could the coil be made to withstand a sufficiently high potential difference, there is no doubt that the space around a wire could be made to emit a strong light, merely by the agitation of the molecules of the air at ordinary pressure.

Such discharges of very high frequency which render luminous the air at ordinary pressure we have very likely occasion to witness in the aurora borealis.

From many of these experiments it seems reasonable to infer that sudden cosmic disturbances, such as eruptions on the sun, set the electrostatic charge of the earth in an extremely rapid vibration, and produce the glow by the violent agitation of the air in the …

If there is any motion which is measurable going on in the space, such a brush would be apt to reveal it.

It is, so to speak, a beam of light, frictionless, devoid of inertia.

On account of its marvellous sensitiveness to electrostatic or magnetic disturbances it may be the means of sending signals through submarine cables with any speed, and even of transmitting intelligence to a distance without wires.

The lectures will now be presented in the order of their date of delivery.

There is no subject more captivating, more worthy of study, than nature. To understand this great mechanism, to discover the forces which are active, and the laws which govern them, is the highest aim of the intellect of man.

Nature has stored up in the universe infinite energy. The eternal recipient and transmitter of this infinite energy is the ether. The recognition of the existence of ether, and of the functions it performs, is one of the most important results of modern scientific research.

Still, in spite of this, the theory of the two electricities is generally accepted, as it apparently explains electric phenomena in a more satisfactory manner.

But a theory which better explains the facts is not necessarily true.

Ingenious minds will invent theories to suit observation, and almost every independent thinker has his own views on the subject.

We may next establish an arc between the electrodes and observe, as the alternations rise, that the note which accompanies alternating arcs gets shriller and shriller, gradually weakens, and finally ceases.

The air vibrations, of course, continue, but they are too weak to be perceived; our sense of hearing fails us.

We observe the small physiological effects, the rapid heating of the iron cores and conductors, curious inductive effects, interesting condenser phenomena, and still more interesting light phenomena with a high tension induction coil.

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But they do not only resemble, they are veritable flames, for they are hot.

Certainly they are not as hot as a gas burner, but they would be so if the frequency and the potential would be sufficiently high.

… you these results of my investigation on the subject under consideration, I have paid only a passing notice to facts upon which I could have dwelt at length, and among many observations I have selected only those which I thought most likely to interest you.

The field is wide and completely unexplored, and at every step a new truth is gleaned, a novel fact observed.

How far the results here borne out are capable of practical applications will be decided in the future.

But there is a possibility of obtaining energy not only in the form of light, but motive power, and energy of any other form, in some more direct way from the medium.

The time will be when this will be accomplished, and the time has come when one may utter such words before an enlightened audience without being considered a visionary.

We are whirling through endless space with an inconceivable speed, all around us everything is spinning, everything is moving, everywhere is energy. There must be some way of availing ourselves of this energy more directly.

The time will be when this will be accomplished, and the time has come when one may utter such words before an enlightened audience without being considered a visionary.

We are whirling through endless space with an inconceivable speed, all around us everything is spinning, everything is moving, everywhere is energy.

There must be some way of availing ourselves of this energy more directly.

Then, with the light obtained from the medium, with the power derived from it, with every form of energy obtained without effort, from the store forever inexhaustible, humanity will advance with giant strides.

The mere contemplation of these magnificent possibilities expands our minds, strengthens our hopes and fills our hearts with supreme delight.

I cannot find words to express how deeply I feel the honor of addressing some of the foremost thinkers of the present time, and so many able scientific men, engineers and electricians, of the country greatest in scientific achievements.

I need not mention many names which are world-known—names of those among you who are recognized as the leaders in this enchanting science; but one, at least, I must mention—a name which could not be omitted in a demonstration of this kind.

It is a name associated with the most beautiful invention ever made: it is Crookes!

When I was at college, a good while ago, I read, in a translation (for then I was not familiar with your magnificent language), the description of his experiments on radiant matter.

I read it only once in my life—that time—yet every detail about that charming work I can remember to this day.

Few are the books, let me say, which can make such an impression upon the mind of a student.

But if, on the present occasion, I mention this name as one of many your Institution can boast of, it is because I have more than one reason to do so.

Hardly have we become familiar with one fact, when novel experiences are met and new avenues of research are opened. Even at this hour possibilities not dreamed of before are, by the use of these currents, partly realized.

As in nature all is ebb and tide, all is wave motion, so it seems that in all branches of industry alternating currents—electric wave motion—will have the sway.

One reason, perhaps, why this branch of science is being so rapidly developed is to be found in the interest which is attached to its experimental study. We wind a simple ring of iron with coils;

… plate of one of the best dielectrics between them, and instead of rendering altogether impossible, as we are used to expect, I aid the passage of the discharge, which, as I insert the plate, merely changes in appearance and assumes the form of luminous streams.

Is there, I ask, can there be, a more interesting study than that of alternating currents?

In all these investigations, in all these experiments, which are so very, very interesting, for many years past—ever since the greatest experimenter who lectured in this hall discovered its principle—we have had a steady companion, an appliance familiar to every one, a plaything once, a …

and in using either of these means we enter a field as yet unexplored.

It is impossible to pursue an investigation in any novel line without finally making some interesting observation or learning some useful fact.

That this statement is applicable to the subject of this lecture the many curious and unexpected phenomena which we observe afford a convincing proof. By way of illustration, take for instance the most obvious phenomena, those of the discharge of the induction coil.

We find it in the delightful myth of Antheus, who derives power from the earth; we find it among the subtle speculations of one of your splendid mathematicians, and in many hints and statements of thinkers of the present time.

Throughout space there is energy. Is this energy static or kinetic?

If static our hopes are in vain; if kinetic—and this we know it is, for certain—then it is a mere question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature.

Of all, living or dead, Crookes came nearest to doing it. His radiometer will turn in the light of day and in the darkness of the night; it will turn everywhere where there is heat, and heat is everywhere.

But, unfortunately, this beautiful little machine, while it goes down to posterity as the most interesting, must likewise be put on record as the most inefficient machine ever invented!

The preceding experiment is only one of many equally interesting experiments which may be performed by the use of only one wire with alternations of high potential and frequency.

But such schemes are mentioned merely as possibilities. We shall have no need to transmit power in this way.

We shall have no need to transmit power at all. Ere many generations pass, our machinery will be driven by a power obtainable at any point of the universe.

This idea is not novel. Men have been led to it long ago by instinct or reason. It has been expressed in many ways, and in many places, in the history of old and new.

Interesting and useful results can, no doubt, be reached in the direction of extreme degrees of heat. How can such high temperatures be arrived at?

How are the highest degrees of heat reached in nature? By the impact of stars, by high speeds and collisions.

In a collision any rate of heat generation may be attained. In a chemical process we are limited. When oxygen and hydrogen combine, they fall, metaphorically speaking, from a definite height.

The higher the frequency, the slower would be the exchange of the air, and I think that a frequency may be reached, at which there would be no exchange whatever of the air molecules around the terminal.

We would then produce a flame in which there would be no carrying away of material, and a queer flame it would be, for it would be rigid!

With such high frequencies the inertia of the particles would come into play. As the brush, or flame, would gain rigidity in virtue of the inertia of the particles, the exchange of the latter would be prevented.

but as to the nature of the forces there would be considerable uncertainty, for it would be doubtful whether with such impulses the copper core would act as a static screen.

Such paradoxes and apparent impossibilities we encounter at every step in this line of work, and therein lies, to a great extent, the charm of the study.

I have here a short and wide tube which is exhausted to a high degree and covered with a substantial coating of bronze, the coating barely allowing the light to shine through.

I now want to light the gas inside by suspending the tube on a wire connected to the coil.

Any one who would try the experiment for the first time, not having any previous experience, would probably take care to be quite alone when making the trial, for fear that he might become the joke of his assistants.

Still, the bulb lights in spite of the metal coating, and the light can be distinctly perceived through the latter. A long tube covered with aluminum bronze lights when held in one hand—the other touching the terminal of the coil—quite powerfully.

In no branch of electric industry is an advance more desired than in the manufacture of light.

Every thinker, when considering the barbarous methods employed, the deplorable losses incurred in our best systems of light production, must have asked himself, What is likely to be the light of the future?

Is it to be an incandescent solid, as in the present lamp, or an incandescent gas, or a phosphorescent body, or something like a burner, but incomparably more efficient?

But such cables will not be constructed, for ere long intelligence—transmitted without wires—will throb through the earth like a pulse through a living organism.

The wonder is that, with the present state of knowledge and the experiences gained, no attempt is being made to disturb the electrostatic or magnetic condition of the earth, and transmit, if nothing else, intelligence.

It has been my chief aim in presenting these results to point out phenomena or features of novelty, and to advance ideas which I am hopeful will serve as starting points of new departures.

According to my ideas, the gutta-percha covered wire should be provided with a third conducting coating subdivided in sections. On the top of this should be again placed a layer of gutta-percha and other insulation, and on the top of the whole the armor.

But such cables will not be constructed, for ere long intelligence—transmitted without wires—will throb through the earth like a pulse through a living organism.

The wonder is that, with the present state of knowledge and the experiences gained, no attempt is being made to disturb the electrostatic or magnetic condition of the earth, and transmit, if nothing else, intelligence.

Again, in all the perfect harmony of its parts, of the parts which constitute the material or tangible of our being, of all its organs and senses, the eye is the most wonderful.

It is the most precious, the most indispensable of our perceptive or directive organs, it is the great gateway through which all knowledge enters the mind.

Of all our organs, it is the one, which is in the most intimate relation with that which we call intellect. So intimate is this relation, that it is often said, the very soul shows itself in the eye.

Of all our organs, it is the one, which is in the most intimate relation with that which we call intellect.

So intimate is this relation, that it is often said, the very soul shows itself in the eye.

It can be taken as a fact, which the theory of the action of the eye implies, that for each external impression, that is, for each image produced upon the retina, the ends of the visual nerves, concerned in the conveyance of the impression to …

… one of the most remarkable experiments recorded in the history of science, and probably only a few men could satisfactorily repeat it, for it is very likely, that the luminosity of the eyes is associated with uncommon activity of the brain and great imaginative power.

It is fluorescence of brain action, as it were.

Another fact having a bearing on this subject which has probably been noted by many, since it is stated in popular expressions, but which I cannot recollect to have found chronicled as a positive result of observation is, that at times, when a sudden idea …

This power of the eye rests upon two things, namely, the rectilinear propagation of the disturbance by which it is effected, and upon its sensitiveness.

To say that the eye is sensitive is not saying anything. Compared with it, all other organs are monstrously crude.

The organ of smell which guides a dog on the trail of a deer, the organ of touch or force which guides an insect in its wanderings, the organ of hearing, which is affected by the slightest disturbances of the air, are sensitive organs, to …

they fritter away the energy of the vibrations before they can reach the eye; they too, are the carriers of germs of destruction, they get into our lungs and other organs, clog up the channels and imperceptibly, yet inevitably, arrest the stream of life.

Could we but do away with all ponderable matter in the line of sight of the telescope, it would reveal to us undreamt of marvels.

Even the unaided eye, I think, would be capable of distinguishing in the pure medium, small objects at distances measured probably by hundreds or perhaps thousands of miles.

Its performances are beyond comprehension.

Nature as far as we know never produced anything more wonderful.

We can get barely a faint idea of its prodigious power by analyzing what it does and by comparing.

And how could it be otherwise, when he realizes, that the eye is the means through which the human race has acquired the entire knowledge it possesses, that it controls all our motions, more still, all our actions.

There is no way of acquiring knowledge except through the eye.

What is the foundation of all philosophical systems of ancient and modern times, in fact, of all the philosophy of man? I am, I think; I think, therefore I am.

But now a mechanism consisting of a finite number of parts and few at that, cannot perform an infinite number of definite motions, hence the impulses which govern its movements must come from the environment.

So, the atom, the ulterior element of the Universe's structure, is tossed about in space, eternally, a play to external influences, like a boat in a troubled sea.

Were it to stop its motion it would die. Matter at rest, if such a thing could exist, would be matter dead. Death of matter! Never has a sentence of deeper philosophical meaning been uttered. This is the way in which Prof.

So, the atom, the ulterior element of the Universe's structure, is tossed about in space, eternally, a play to external influences, like a boat in a troubled sea. Were it to stop its motion it would die.

Matter at rest, if such a thing could exist, would be matter dead.

Death of matter! Never has a sentence of deeper philosophical meaning been uttered. This is the way in which Prof.

Were it to stop its motion it would die. Matter at rest, if such a thing could exist, would be matter dead.

Death of matter! Never has a sentence of deeper philosophical meaning been uttered.

This is the way in which Prof. Dewar forcibly expresses it in the description of his admirable experiments, in which liquid oxygen is handled as one handles water, and air at ordinary pressure is made to condense and even to solidify by the intense cold.

Experiments, which serve to illustrate, in his language, the last feeble manifestations of life, the last quiverings of matter about to die. But human eyes shall not witness such death.

There is no death of matter, for throughout the infinite universe, all has to move, to vibrate, that is, to live.

I have made the preceding statements at the peril of treading upon metaphysical ground, in my desire to introduce the subject of this lecture in a manner not altogether uninteresting, I may hope, to an audience such as I have the honor to address.

For our existence and comfort we require heat, light and mechanical power. How do we now get all these? We get them from fuel, we get them by consuming material.

What will man do when the forests disappear, when the coal fields are exhausted?

Only one thing, according to our present knowledge will remain; that is, to transmit power at great distances. Men will go to the waterfalls, to the tides, which are the stores of an infinitesimal part of Nature's immeasurable energy.

We get them from fuel, we get them by consuming material. What will man do when the forests disappear, when the coal fields are exhausted? Only one thing, according to our present knowledge will remain; that is, to transmit power at great distances.

Men will go to the waterfalls, to the tides, which are the stores of an infinitesimal part of Nature's immeasurable energy.

There will they harness the energy and transmit the same to their settlements, to warm their homes by, to give them light, and to keep their obedient slaves, the machines, toiling. But how will they transmit this energy if not by electricity?

There will they harness the energy and transmit the same to their settlements, to warm their homes by, to give them light, and to keep their obedient slaves, the machines, toiling. But how will they transmit this energy if not by electricity?

Judge then, if the comfort, nay, the very existence, of man will not depend on electricity.

I am aware that this view is not that of a practical engineer, but neither is it that of an illusionist, for it is certain, that power transmission, which at present is merely a stimulus to enterprise, will some day be a dire necessity.

Therefore the phenomena of light and heat and others besides these, may be called electrical phenomena.

Thus electrical science has become the mother science of all and its study has become all important.

The day when we shall know exactly what "electricity" is, will chronicle an event probably greater, more important than any other recorded in the history of the human race.

Therefore the phenomena of light and heat and others besides these, may be called electrical phenomena. Thus electrical science has become the mother science of all and its study has become all important.

The day when we shall know exactly what "electricity" is, will chronicle an event probably greater, more important than any other recorded in the history of the human race.

The time will come when the comfort, the very existence, perhaps, of man will depend upon that wonderful agent. For our existence and comfort we require heat, light and mechanical power. How do we now get all these?

It is deemed advisable to make the preceding remarks, inasmuch as many more recently described effects have been unwittingly identified with high frequencies.

Frequency alone in reality does not mean anything, except when an undisturbed harmonic oscillation is considered.

In the branch IIIb a similar disposition to that in Ib is illustrated, with the difference that the currents discharging through the gap d d are used to induce currents in the secondary S of a transformer T.

The smaller these losses, the more striking are the effects. The same is the case in mechanical vibration.

A stout steel bar may be set in vibration by drops of water falling upon it at proper intervals; and with glass, which is more perfectly elastic, the resonance effect is still more remarkable, for a goblet may be burst by singing into it a note of the proper pitch.

The electrical resonance is the more perfectly attained, the smaller the resistance or the impedance of the conducting path and the more perfect the dielectric.

Theory and experiment both show that such is impossible in Nature, for as the oscillation becomes more and more vigorous, the losses in the vibrating bodies and environing media rapidly increase and necessarily check the vibration which otherwise would go on increasing forever.

It is a fortunate circumstance that pure resonance is not producible, for if it were there is no telling what dangers might not lie in wait for the innocent experimenter.

But to a certain degree resonance is producible, the magnitude of the effects being limited by the imperfect conductivity and imperfect elasticity of the media or, generally stated, by frictional losses. The smaller these losses, the more striking are the effects.

We now know that electric vibration may be transmitted through a single conductor. Why then not try to avail ourselves of the earth for this purpose? We need not be frightened by the idea of distance.

To the weary wanderer counting the mile-posts the earth may appear very large, but to that happiest of all men, the astronomer, who gazes at the heavens and by their standard judges the magnitude of our globe, it appears very small.

And so I think it must seem to the electrician, for when he considers the speed with which an electric disturbance is propagated through the earth all his ideas of distance must completely vanish.

But the practical solution of this problem would be of incomparably smaller benefit to man than the realization of the scheme of transmitting intelligence, or perhaps power, to any distance through the earth or environing medium.

If this is at all possible, distance does not mean anything.

Proper apparatus must first be produced by means of which the problem can be attacked and I have devoted much thought to this subject. I am firmly convinced that it can be done and hope that we shall live to see it done.

If this is at all possible, distance does not mean anything. Proper apparatus must first be produced by means of which the problem can be attacked and I have devoted much thought to this subject.

I am firmly convinced that it can be done and hope that we shall live to see it done.

Returning now to the light effects which it has been the chief object to investigate, it is thought proper to divide these effects into four classes: 1. Incandescence of a solid. 2. Phosphorescence. 3. Incandescence or phosphorescence of a rarefied gas; and 4.

But the atom behaves singularly in this respect—it always takes the same "charge."

It is very likely that resonant vibration plays a most important part in all manifestations of energy in nature.

Throughout space all matter is vibrating, and all rates of vibration are represented, from the lowest musical note to the highest pitch of the chemical rays, hence an atom, or complex of atoms, no matter what its period, must find a vibration with which it …

The explanations of the phenomena have been given in good faith and in the spirit of a student prepared to find that they admit of a better interpretation.

There can be no great harm in a student taking an erroneous view, but when great minds err, the world must dearly pay for their mistakes.

It has become a common practice to operate arc lamps by alternating or pulsating, as distinguished from continuous, currents;

He will first start out, as a matter of course, by making an armature with the required number of polar projections.

He will then get the satisfaction of having produced an apparatus which is fit to accompany a thoroughly Wagnerian opera.

It may besides possess the virtue of converting mechanical energy into heat in a nearly perfect manner. If there is a reversal in the polarity of the projections, he will get heat out of the machine;

if there is no reversal, the heating will be less, but the output will be next to nothing. He will then abandon the iron in the armature, and he will get from the Scylla to the Charybdis.

He will look for one difficulty and will find another, but, after a few trials, he may get nearly what he wanted.

Among the many experiments which may be performed with such a machine, of not the least interest are those performed with a high-tension induction coil. The character of the discharge is completely changed.

But such high resistance involves a great loss in power, hence it is not practicable. Not so self-induction. Self-induction does not necessarily mean loss of power.

The moral is, use self-induction instead of resistance.

There is, however, a circumstance which favors the adoption of this plan, and this is, that a very high self-induction may be obtained cheaply by surrounding a comparatively small length of wire more or less completely with iron, and, furthermore, the effect may be exalted …

… power, and, what is more important, it allows the use of simple clutch lamps, which with a current of a certain number of impulses per second, best suitable for each particular lamp, will, if properly attended to, regulate even better than the finest clock-work lamps.

This discovery has been made by the writer—several years too late.

It has been asserted by competent English electricians that in a constant-current machine or transformer the regulation is effected by varying the phase of the secondary current.

The heating will, of course, be superficial, that is, on the skin, and would result, whether the person operated on were in bed or walking around a room, whether dressed in thick clothes or whether reduced to nakedness.

In fact, to put it broadly, it is conceivable that a person entirely nude at the North Pole might keep himself comfortably warm in this manner.

Without vouching for all the results, which must, of course, be determined by experience and observation, I can at least warrant the fact that heating would occur by the use of this method of subjecting the human body to bombardment by alternating currents of high …

It is thought appropriate by the compiler to append here some notes on unipolar dynamos, written by Mr. Tesla, on a recent occasion.

It is characteristic of fundamental discoveries, of great achievements of intellect, that they retain an undiminished power upon the imagination of the thinker.

The memorable experiment of Faraday with a disc rotating between the two poles of a magnet, which has borne such magnificent fruit, has long passed into every-day experience;