Nikola Tesla

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May 2, 2024

Guest

Simon Schaffer, an expert from Cambridge, Jill Jonnes, historian and author of "Empires of Light," and Iwan Morus, a history professor, dive into the intriguing world of Nikola Tesla. They explore Tesla's rise from the Austro-Hungarian Empire to America, where he revolutionized electrical systems and pioneered alternating current. The discussion reveals the debunking of the Edison-Tesla rivalry, highlighting Tesla's genius and eccentricities, and how his showmanship contributed to his legacy as a misunderstood innovator.

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ANECDOTE

Tesla's Early Life and Education

Tesla's early life was marked by illness and a fascination with electricity.
Despite being destined for the priesthood, he pursued engineering, inspired by his mother, whom he considered a great inventor.

INSIGHT

Central European Electrification

There was significant technical education in Central Europe during Tesla's time, often overlooked due to an Anglo-American bias in history.
Countries like Germany, Austro-Hungary, and France were rapidly electrifying, with Paris becoming a prime example.

INSIGHT

The War of the Currents

When Tesla arrived in the US, Edison was focused on DC, while Westinghouse was promoting AC.
Tesla's AC motor invention tipped the scales towards AC, the system that powers the modern age.

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Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) and his role in the development of electrical systems towards the end of the nineteenth century. He made his name in New York in the contest over which current should flow into homes and factories in America. Some such as Edison backed direct current or DC while others such as Westinghouse backed alternating current or AC and Nikola Tesla’s invention of a motor that worked on AC swung it for the alternating system that went on to power the modern age. He ensured his reputation and ideas burnt brightly for the next decades, making him synonymous with the lone, genius inventor of the new science fiction.

With

Simon Schaffer Emeritus Fellow of Darwin College, University of Cambridge

Jill Jonnes Historian and author of “Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse and the Race to Electrify the World”

And

Iwan Morus Professor of History at Aberystwyth University

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

W. Bernard Carlson, Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age (Princeton University Press, 2013)

Margaret Cheney and Robert Uth, Tesla: Master of Lightning (Barnes & Noble Books, 1999)

Thomas P. Hughes, Networks of Power: Electrification in Western Society, 1880-1930 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983)

Carolyn Marvin, When Old Technologies Were New (Open University Press, 1988)

Iwan Rhys Morus, Nikola Tesla and the Electrical Future (Icon Books, 2019)

Iwan Rhys Morus, How The Victorians Took Us To The Moon (Icon, 2022)

David E. Nye, Electrifying America: Social Meanings of a New Technology (MIT Press, 1991)

John J. O’Neill, Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (first published 1944; Cosimo Classics, 2006)

Marc J. Seifer, Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, Biography of a Genius (first published 1996; Citadel Press, 2016)

Nikola Tesla, My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla (first published 1919; Martino Fine Books, 2011)

Nikola Tesla, My Inventions and other Writings (Penguin, 2012)

In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio production