Nikola Tesla

1856 – 1943

Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American engineer and inventor whose work on the design of the modern alternating-current electricity supply system underlies essentially all subsequent electrical power distribution. His 1888 induction motor and polyphase AC system, licensed by Westinghouse, defeated Thomas Edison's competing direct-current standard in the so-called War of the Currents, and he later contributed pioneering work on radio, wireless lighting, X-rays, and rotating magnetic fields. He died in poverty in a New York hotel in 1943, having seen his name fade beneath the commercial successes of the inventors who built on his ideas.

Last checked: May 10, 2026, 1:06 PM