Tesla is recognized as one of the foremost electrical researchers and inventors. At the time of publication, the book was the "bible" of every
electrical engineer practicing the profession.
The book contains Forty-three chapters, most of them on different areas of Tesla's research and inventions by Tesla. The first chapter is a brief biography while three chapters are transcripts of important lectures and one covers his section of Westinghouse's exhibit at the Chicago World's Fair
Martin stated that, "No attempt whatever has been made here to emphasize the importance of his researches and discoveries". The ideas and inventions are conveyed in their own way, determining by their own place by intrinsic merit. But with the fact that Tesla blazed a path that electrical development would later follow for years to come, the compiler of the book endeavored to bring together all of Tesla's work up to that point in Tesla's life.
[Book Trust (Great Britain), and National Book League (Great Britain). Book News. London: National Book League, 1894]
Page 311
Aside from indicating the range of his thought and originality of his mind, the book has historical value because it describes the scope of Tesla's early inventions.
Publication
Upon securing the deal to publish the book, Thomas Commerford Martin was praised by his contemporaries as having executed a brilliant stratagem in closing the deal to publish a book which would be a landmark in the electrical sciences.
[Seifer (1998)]
Page 110
Martin and Tesla both profited from sales of the book, but Tesla insisted that copies had to be given out freely. Tesla was unconcerned with the financial aspect of the book but though in the future it would make a good amount of money.
Editions
*1894 The Electrical Engineer (publisher), New York, 2nd edition, copyright expired
scanned copy available online*1995
Barnes & Noble 496-page reprint casebound, paperback
*2014 Barnes & Noble leatherbound
*Multiple other versions available
Analysis
Edwin Armstrong, the inventor of FM radio, commented on the importance of the book and stated in the middle of the 20th century:
Who today can read a copy of ''The Inventions, Researches and Writings of Nikola Tesla'', published before the turn-of-the-century, without being fascinated by the beauty of the experiments described and struck with admiration for Tesla's extraordinary insight into the nature of the phenomena with which he was dealing? Who now can realize the difficulties he must have had to overcome in those early days? But one can imagine the inspirational effect of the book forty years ago on a boy about to decide to study the electrical art. Its effect was both profound and decisive.
Citations
Margaret Cheney, in ''Tesla: Man Out of Time'', used the text of the book to call attention to the fact that Tesla indicated that one of the uses of the experimental equipment would be for the professional field of "harmonic and synchronous telegraphy" and that "vast possibilities are again opened up" for the radio arts of the time.
In ''Nikola Tesla and John Jacob Astor'' by Marc J. Seifer, Seifer writes of Tesla answering what is the spark of life:
Thus, everything that exists, organic or inorganic, animated or inert, is susceptible to stimulus from the outside. There is no gap between, no break in continuity, no special and distinguishing vital agent. The momentous question of Spencer, What is it that causes inorganic matter to run into organic forms? has been answered. It is the sun's heat and light. Wherever they are there is life.[Marc J. Seifer, "Nikola Tesla and John Jacob Astor". Sixth International Symposium Nikola Tesla, October 18–20, 2006, Belgrade, SASA, Serbia.]
References
;General information
* Seifer, Marc J. (1998). ''
Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla: Biography of a Genius''. New York: Citadel Press/Kensington Publishing.
* Martin, T. C., and Tesla, N. (1894).
The Inventions, Researches and Writings of Nikola Tesla, with Special Reference to His Work in Polyphase Currents and High Potential Lighting'. New York: The Electrical Engineer. (2005 scan of university copy)
;Footnotes
Further reading
By Tesla
* Tesla, Nikola, ''"
Colorado Springs Notes, 1899–1900"''
* Tesla, Nikola, "
My Inventions
''My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla'' is a book compiled and edited by Ben Johnston detailing the work of Nikola Tesla. The content was largely drawn from a series of articles that Nikola Tesla had written for ''Electrical Experimen ...
" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982; also online at '
Lucid Cafe
as "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla
''My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla'' is a book compiled and edited by Ben Johnston detailing the work of Nikola Tesla. The content was largely drawn from a series of articles that Nikola Tesla had written for ''Electrical Experimen ...
"'', 1919.
Other authors
* Anderson, Leland I., "Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856–1943)", 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956. : /L
* Cheney, Margaret, '' Tesla: Man Out of Time'', 1981. .
* Childress, David H., ''The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla
David Hatcher Childress (born June 1, 1957) is a French-born American author, and the owner of Adventures Unlimited Press, a publishing house established in 1984 specializing in books on unusual topics such as ancient mysteries, unexplained pheno ...
'', 1993.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, '' Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla'', 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, . (''ed''
Prodigal Genius
is available online)
* Lomas, Robert, '' The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, Forgotten Genius of Electricity,'' 1999.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, '' Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography'', Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* Valone, Thomas, '' Harnessing the Wheelwork of Nature: Tesla's Science of Energy'', 2002.
*WC Wysock, JF Corum, JM Hardesty, KL Corum,
Who Was The ''Real'' Dr. Nikola Tesla?
, Antenna Measurement Techniques Association Poster paper October 22–25, 2001.
* Kenneth L. Corum, James F. Corum,
Tesla’s connection to Columbia University
External links
Online version
at the Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Inventions, Researches, And Writings Of Nikola Tesla
1894 non-fiction books
Books about Nikola Tesla