Tesla
In this “informative and delightful” (American Scientist) biography, Margaret Cheney explores the brilliant and prescient mind of Nikola Tesla, one of the twentieth century’s greatest scientists and inventors. In Tesla: Man Out of Time, Margaret Cheney explores the brilliant and prescient mind of one of the twentieth century's greatest scientists and inventors. Called a madman by his enemies, a genius by others, and an enigma by nearly everyone, Nikola Tesla was, without a doubt, a trailblazing inventor who created astonishing, sometimes world-transforming devices that were virtually without theoretical precedent. Tesla not only discovered the rotating magnetic field -- the basis of most alternating-current machinery -- but also introduced us to the fundamentals of robotics, computers, and missile science. Almost supernaturally gifted, unfailingly flamboyant and neurotic, Tesla was troubled by an array of compulsions and phobias and was fond of extravagant, visionary experimentations. He was also a popular man-about-town, admired by men as diverse as Mark Twain and George Westinghouse, and adored by scores of society beauties. From Tesla's childhood in Yugoslavia to his death in New York in the 1940s, Cheney paints a compelling human portrait and chronicles a lifetime of discoveries that radically altered -- and continue to alter -- the world in which we live.
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What Hacker News says
- I've read a few biographies and other books about Tesla. I recommend Tesla: Man Out of Time by Margaret Cheney
- Some of you here must surely be familiar -- one of the most engaging biographies of Tesla was written by Margaret Cheney: Man Out of Time:
http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Tesla/Margaret-Cheney/...
(The title might sound a tad clickbait-y, but deservedly so. Also remember that it was written in 2001, about six years before HN was created.)
- Hey guys,
I've been reading Margaret Cheney's "Tesla: Man out of time", which is a wonderful biography of the prolific inventor Nikola Tesla, and there were two quotes that really blew my mind and I thought you guys would appreciate it.
At one point, Tesla's lab catches on fire and burns down, and all his equipment and notes are destroyed. He is devastated, and later on he says that the "loss could not be measured," but Charles Dana of the New York Sun had this to say on the topic:
* "The destruction of Nikola Tesla's workshop, with its wonderful contents, is something more than a private calamity. It is a misfortune to the whole world. It is not in any degree an exaggeration to say that the men living at this time who are more important to the human race than this young gentleman can be counted on the fingers of one hand; perhaps on the thumb of one hand." *
That's insane. Can you imagine working on the kind of things that put you at the pinnacle of people "more important to the human race"! That is absolutely insane. I look at the kind of stuff posted here and on TC/Endgadget and those kind of sites, and most of the stuff we read about doesn't even come close to the kinds of things Tesla was working on. In today's world, what are the things that are "most important to the human race"? How do you even judge that?
The other tremendous quote was by Tesla himself. A reporter was interviewing him when he dropped this gem:
"I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success…Such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything."
I think when you have those kind of feelings, you know you're on to something. A real inspiration to all of us.
- Tesla: A Man Out of Time by Margaret Cheney, one of my favourite biographies.
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