Tegi 2017

AUTHORS: Marko Kalin & Matic Žura, T2c
An interview with Nikola Tesla
Q: Let's start with our interview. Many people know that you were from Europe and then you
moved to the USA. But which country was your homeland? Today there are lots of speculations
about this question.
A: Yes, I was a European, actually I was born in a village near Gospič, Croatia but my parents were
Serbian. I had always felt more Serbian.
Q: You were one of the greatest inventors, you had patented over 300 inventions. Which of your
inventions are you most proud of?
A: Oh, there are so many of them. I think the most important was the alternating current (AC)
induction motor and other inventions connected with AC. I am also very proud of the Wardenclyffe
Tower.
Q: Why couldn't you get along with Thomas Edison?
A: At first I had been working for him, but he didn't want to hear about the AC, so I left his company
and started developing devices with the AC and he continued developing the direct current. Then we
came into the »war of currents«. He was trying to destroy my campaign with a propaganda against the
AC.
Q: What about the hydroelectric power plant on the Niagara falls?
A: Oh, I have an interesting story about that. Once when I was a child I had read a description about
the Niagara falls. In my mind I had imagined a big wheel beneath them. I had said to my uncle that
I would go to the USA and realise my idea. Thirty years later, I was watching how my idea on the
Niagara became a reality and I had been thinking about incomprehensible secrets of mind.
Q: You mentioned a tower when we were discussing your inventions. Could you tell us a bit more
about that?
A: The Wardenclyffe Tower was a part of my idea to start wireless communication over the Atlantic
ocean and later also to make electricity available for anyone, wireless and free! I had built a metal
tower and started experimenting. But one year later a man called Gugliemo Marconi sent the first radio
message over the ocean and I had no role in this anymore. My tower was demolished. I am still very
desperate about that, because Marconi's invention was based on my technology.
Q: Some say that you were the man who started the new age. What would you say about that?
A: My inventions started a new chapter in industrial development. But I think that most of my
¸¸inventions were made before their time. The world wasn't ready for them.
Q: Why did you move to the United States of America?
A: When I moved to Budapest in 1881 to work at a telegraph company, I made many improvements,
I was so good they sent me to Paris to install lighting for the Continental Edison Company. There I
gained a great deal of practical experience in electrical engineering. They took notice of my advanced
knowledge and in 1884 I was asked to move to New York and work for Thomas Edison.
50 Priloga