HELPP ME WRITE A BRIEF 5 SENTENCE SUMMARY ON THIS. BRAINLIST (OR HOWEVER YOU SPELL IT)
Nikola Tesla was born in 1856 to a Serbian family in the country that is now called Croatia. When Tesla was young, he was able to do such complex math problems in his head that his teachers thought he was cheating. He finished high school in 3 years instead of 4.
He started college, but didn’t finish. However, he learned enough to go to work. He moved several times over the next few years, each time getting a job as an electrician. At each place where he worked, he designed and made improvements to the equipment.
In 1884, he moved to New York City. He came with a letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison from one of his bosses. The letter is claimed to have said, “I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man.” Edison hired
Tesla, who began as an electrical engineer. He quickly became very important to the company, solving some of its most difficult problems. Tesla was able to use his mind to imagine how different methods worked. Edison always made a lot of models and tried them out, which took a lot longer.
In 1885, Tesla and Edison had a falling out. Tesla told Edison he could improve some of Edison’s motors and generators. Edison told him he would pay him $50,000 if he did. This was quite a lot of money at that time. Tesla worked hard and spent months on the task. When he succeeded, he asked Edison for the reward, but
Edison told him he had been joking. He said, “Tesla, you don’t understand our American humor.” He offered Tesla a $10 raise on his $18 weekly pay. Tesla quit the job.
Tesla started his own company in 1887, Tesla Electric Light and Manufacturing. There he worked on making a system called “alternating current” to produce electricity. Thomas Edison thought his system, called “direct current,” was better and safer. The two became rivals. They each gave talks about why his particular method was better. They had public demonstrations to show people how they created electricity. This rivalry was referred to as the “War of the Currents.”
Another rival of Edison’s, George Westinghouse, had also been trying to create an electrical system. He bought some of Tesla’s inventions and paid him $2,000 a month to consult with him. Tesla spent all his money on new inventions and ideas. He invented the Tesla coil, which carried electricity without wires. You can still see a Tesla coil at some museums today. Tesla invented or helped develop a long list of devices, including X-ray machines, radio, wireless remotes, fluorescent lights, and the system of electricity that is still used today in our cities. He helped create a power plant in Niagara Falls that provided power all the way to New York City. He was given many awards and honorary degrees from universities all over the world.
Sadly, Tesla died without a cent. People forgot about him, and remembered Edison, whose companies still exist and have his name, like Consolidated Edison, the electric company that powers New York City. In the 1990s, people started to write about
Tesla, and now he is becoming better known again. The owner of a new car company named it Tesla Motors because they make electric cars. Their first car used Tesla’s design from 1882 for an electric car.
