American history misrepresents the origins of modern electricity and radio. Thomas Edison is often credited with sparking the Electrical Revolution that led to the electrical systems in place today, and Guglielmo Marconi for advancements in radio technology, but both of these claims are misleading. Nikola Tesla, a Serbian-born immigrant, holds over 40 U.S. patents for advancements in alternating current technology, the type of electricity most used today. The U.S. patent office and U.S. Supreme Court also credit him for advancements in radio. Tesla also invented vacuum tubes that paved the way for television and held experiments that helped engineers create the cell phone.
Modern electricity makes use of polyphase alternating current (AC). …show more content…
What initially set Tesla to develop an AC motor is best illustrated by this quote: “No more will men be slaves to hard tasks. My motor will set them free. It will do the work of the world!” He realized, while studying electrical engineering in Gratz, Austria in 1875, the limitations of DC due to sparking resulting from commutator action. Commutators are a variety of brushes and devices used to convert alternating current into direct current. Tesla believed AC would be best because it would not require commutators. It requires only one third of the copper wire DC needs and can also be stepped up to high voltages and then stepped down again. Tesla figured out how to create AC motors seven years later, despite a professor who had deemed it “impossible”. Tesla then researched high frequency circuit behavior that resulted in the creation of transformers that are now called “Tesla coils”. Edison’s system was not revolutionary since it used already existent technology. However, Tesla holds over 40 U.S. patents for the polyphase system of alternating …show more content…
Tesla failed to commercialize the invention although he had begun working on wireless transmission in 1890. Within seven years, Tesla had acquired patents on equipment required to receive, modulate, generate, transmit and store radio signals. After Tesla’s 1893 wireless transmission lecture was published worldwide, an Italian by the name Guglielmo Marconi arrived in London with wireless equipment curiously designed exactly as designed by Tesla in his lecture. Marconi sent a signal across the Atlantic Ocean in 1901 and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physic for inventing radio in 1909. However, Tesla was responsible for the innovations in wireless transmission. Marconi received patents for radio in 1904, but these were overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of Tesla’s 1897 radio technology patents in 1943, shortly after Tesla
Modern electricity makes use of polyphase alternating current (AC). …show more content…
What initially set Tesla to develop an AC motor is best illustrated by this quote: “No more will men be slaves to hard tasks. My motor will set them free. It will do the work of the world!” He realized, while studying electrical engineering in Gratz, Austria in 1875, the limitations of DC due to sparking resulting from commutator action. Commutators are a variety of brushes and devices used to convert alternating current into direct current. Tesla believed AC would be best because it would not require commutators. It requires only one third of the copper wire DC needs and can also be stepped up to high voltages and then stepped down again. Tesla figured out how to create AC motors seven years later, despite a professor who had deemed it “impossible”. Tesla then researched high frequency circuit behavior that resulted in the creation of transformers that are now called “Tesla coils”. Edison’s system was not revolutionary since it used already existent technology. However, Tesla holds over 40 U.S. patents for the polyphase system of alternating …show more content…
Tesla failed to commercialize the invention although he had begun working on wireless transmission in 1890. Within seven years, Tesla had acquired patents on equipment required to receive, modulate, generate, transmit and store radio signals. After Tesla’s 1893 wireless transmission lecture was published worldwide, an Italian by the name Guglielmo Marconi arrived in London with wireless equipment curiously designed exactly as designed by Tesla in his lecture. Marconi sent a signal across the Atlantic Ocean in 1901 and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physic for inventing radio in 1909. However, Tesla was responsible for the innovations in wireless transmission. Marconi received patents for radio in 1904, but these were overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of Tesla’s 1897 radio technology patents in 1943, shortly after Tesla