Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla (ニコラ・テスラ, Nikora Tesura) is the main protagonist of The Genius Who Made Edison Cower: Nikola Tesla, the seventh chapter of The Lives of Eccentrics series.
He is a Serbian-American inventor. He is well known for his genius as well as for his many eccentricities.
Appearance
Nikola Tesla is a tall man of thin build. He has short dark hair and a mustache.
He usually wears a suit with a vest and a tie.
Personality
Nikola Tesla is normally a shy, reserved, and non-confrontational person.
He exhibits great passion for his work. That passion, as well as Tesla's genius, is the driving force of his career as an inventor.
Tesla is known to be quite an eccentric man. But with time his eccentricities had grown into manias and obsessions: his shyness changed into hatred of other people, he became neurotic and irritable, and gained a crippling fear of dirtiness and germs. The phobia of smooth round objects that was already present throughout his life turned into intense fear. At some point he no longer could enjoy his meals without shining all the plates and utensils using exactly 18 napkins as well as measuring each dish.[1]
Abilities
Intelligence
Nikola Tesla is considered to be one of the greatest geniuses in history. Among his many contributions to science are the discovery of high voltage electricity, the invention of the Tesla transformer, the alternating current motor, the basis of computers, wireless communication, solar energy systems, radar devices, and automatons. Tesla achieved this status mainly due to his passion and natural talents as opposed to hard work.
Photographic Memory
Nikola Tesla has an ability to accurately remember anything that he ever looked at. This is incredibly useful for his career as it allows him to recreate any machine by briefly looking at its blueprint as well as making a blueprint of a machine that he had only seen once.
History
Background
Nikola Tesla was born in Yugoslavia in 1856.
When Nikola Tesla was a child, he was confronted by bullies when they were visiting him at his house. While Niko was showing them his inventions, one of the boys broke one of them. When Tesla prosted, the bullies, knowing about his phobia of round shiny objects, forced him to look at an egg, making Tesla throw up. Later, when one of the bullies was using an outhouse, Tesla rolled a snowball down the hill towards the outhouse. On the way down the snowball gained mass and crushed into the outhouse, burying the boy in the snow.
At the age of 23, for the first time in his life, he saw the light bulb recently invented by Thomas Edison. Despite Tesla's aversion to its shape, he was mesmerized by its bright light.[1]
The Genius Who Made Edison Cower: Nikola Tesla
In 1884, at the age of 28, Nikola Tesla moves to the United States of America, where becomes a staff member at the Edison Company. As his first task Edison tells Tesla to fix two generators and gives him a week, while expecting him to be done in no less than two weeks. To his surprise, Nikola Tesla completes the job in a mere six hours.
While Tesla is making a test model for an alternating current motor he's approached by Edison, demanding to know what he's doing. After Tesla explains it to him, Edison breaks the test model and calls the alternating current dangerous, comparing it to lightning. Tesla refuses to abandon his idea, so Edison takes out a billiard ball, shoves it in Tesla's face, and fires him.
After being fired from the Edison Company, Tesla is short on money and has trouble with finding employment as Edison spreads derogatory rumors about him. Tesla's mental state significantly worsens, and he becomes more neurotic and irritable.
One day, while sitting in a park, he is approached by Westinghouse, who offers to fund the research of the alternating current if Tesla hands over the patents relating to it to Westinghouse's company. Despite thinking of the deal as humiliating, Tesla hesitantly agrees.
In 1893, Nikola Tesla, who hadn't been publicly seen for several years, appears at the Chicago World's Fair illuminated by lights that he invented. Tesla himself is sitting on the stage at the American pavilion calmly reading a book, while surrounded by sparks of electricity. He explains to the astounded audience that the alternating current is completely safe at low voltage, disproving Edison’s derogatory claims and redeeming himself and the alternating current in the eyes of the public.
In 1898, in New York, he performs an experiment before the press where he attempts to split a block of steel in half using small vibrations. To the astonishment of the present journalists, Tesla's machine succeeds while also causing significant tremors in the surrounding area, causing chaos and panic among people nearby.
In 1915, the Nobel Committee announces that they would award the Nobel Prize for physics to both Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison. However, both of them turn it down due to their resentment for each other.
Along with his dislike of humans, Tesla's eccentricities continue to get worse. Tesla also eventually stops making inventions that would be useful for people with his ideas becoming increasingly bizarre.
At some point, Tesla starts dating a woman named Anne Morgan. One day, having forgotten about Tesla's phobia, she goes on a date with him wearing pearl earrings. After seeing the earrings, Tesla refuses to meet her again, and stays single for the rest of his life.
Later in life, an elderly Nikola Tesla finds a pigeon with an injured wing and treats it. They become extremely attached to each other with Tesla even stating that he loved the pigeon like a man loves a woman. One night, she arrives unusually late at his house. Tesla notices her crying and realizes that she knew that she would die soon and that she came there to say goodbye to Tesla.
A year after the pigeon's death, Nikola Tesla loses everything he had. He is eventually found dead in his room, having passed away peacefully.[1]
Quotes
Quotes- “I could spare all that time and effort Edison is wasting with a little theory and calculation... I pity that man...”—Nikola Tesla, The Genius Who Made Edison Cower: Nikola Tesla
- “Alternating current is dangerous? Who told you something as ignorant as that? It's so wonderful and beautiful...”—Nikola Tesla, The Genius Who Made Edison Cower: Nikola Tesla
- “I see... You knew that you would die soon so you came to say goodbye. Don't worry, I'll look after you through the night.”—Nikola Tesla, The Genius Who Made Edison Cower: Nikola Tesla
Gallery
Being tormented by bullies
Chasing after lightning
Edison asking Tesla to fix the generators
Creating a test model of an alternating current motor
Edison destroying Tesla's test model
Assaulted by Edison before being fired
Explaining the workings of the alternating current at the Chicago World's Fair
Refusing to accept the Nobel Prize
With Anne Morgan
Terrified by Anne Morgan's pearl earrings
Feeding his crying pigeon
One-shot cover
Hardcover cover art
Bunko back cover
Super Jump, June 1989
Super Jump, June 1989 contents
