Download or read book War of the Currents written by Stephanie Sammartino McPherson and published by Twenty-First Century Books. This book was released on 2012-08-01 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the early 1880s, only a few wealthy people had electric lighting in their homes. Everyone else had use more dangerous lighting, such as gas lamps. Eager companies wanted to be the first to supply electricity to more Americans. The early providers would set the standards—and reap great profits. Inventor Thomas Edison already had a leading role in the industry: he had invented the first reliable electrical lightbulb. By 1882 his Edison Electric Light Company was distributing electricity using a system called direct current, or DC. But an inventor named Nikola Tesla challenged Edison. Tesla believed that an alternating current—or AC—system would be better. With an AC system, one power station could deliver electricity across many miles, compared to only about one mile for DC. Each inventor had his backers. Business tycoon George Westinghouse put his money behind Tesla and built AC power stations. Meanwhile, Edison and his DC backers said that AC could easily electrocute people. Edison believed this risk would sway public opinion toward DC power. The battle over which system would become standard became known as the War of the Currents. This exciting book tells the story of that war, the people who fought it, and the ways in which both kinds of electric power changed the world.
Download or read book Empires of Light written by Jill Jonnes and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2004-10-12 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The gripping history of electricity and how the fateful collision of Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, and George Westinghouse left the world utterly transformed. In the final decades of the nineteenth century, three brilliant and visionary titans of America’s Gilded Age—Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, and George Westinghouse—battled bitterly as each vied to create a vast and powerful electrical empire. In Empires of Light, historian Jill Jonnes portrays this extraordinary trio and their riveting and ruthless world of cutting-edge science, invention, intrigue, money, death, and hard-eyed Wall Street millionaires. At the heart of the story are Thomas Alva Edison, the nation’s most famous and folksy inventor, creator of the incandescent light bulb and mastermind of the world’s first direct current electrical light networks; the Serbian wizard of invention Nikola Tesla, elegant, highly eccentric, a dreamer who revolutionized the generation and delivery of electricity; and the charismatic George Westinghouse, Pittsburgh inventor and tough corporate entrepreneur, an industrial idealist who in the era of gaslight imagined a world powered by cheap and plentiful electricity and worked heart and soul to create it. Edison struggled to introduce his radical new direct current (DC) technology into the hurly-burly of New York City as Tesla and Westinghouse challenged his dominance with their alternating current (AC), thus setting the stage for one of the eeriest feuds in American corporate history, the War of the Electric Currents. The battlegrounds: Wall Street, the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, Niagara Falls, and, finally, the death chamber—Jonnes takes us on the tense walk down a prison hallway and into the sunlit room where William Kemmler, convicted ax murderer, became the first man to die in the electric chair.
Download or read book Tesla written by David J. Kent and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who was Nikola Tesla? A visionary inventor? Eccentric genius? Outsider rebel? Now David Kent reveals the life, drama, and mystery surrounding the romantic figure. An immigrant from what is now Croatia, Tesla would move to America and go on to create groundbreaking inventions including some that would change the world. He even electrified visitors at the 1893 Chicago World s Fair with an amazing never-before-seen electrical light display. Despite his successes, Tesla would become largely forgotten over the remaining dozen years of his life as others got credit for his remarkable scientific contributions. But after his death, he found renewed fame as the subject of conspiracy theories and as a pop culture idol. Through this fascinating book, you ll come to know the dashing man that continues to capture imaginations today.
Download or read book Tesla written by Margaret Cheney and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-11-08 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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. Tesla: Man Out of Time is an in-depth look at the seminal accomplishments of a scientific wizard and a thoughtful examination of the obsessions and eccentricities of the man behind the science.
Download or read book Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison written by The History Hour and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2019-01-30 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Download for FREE on Kindle Unlimited + Free Bonus Inside! Read on your Computer, Mac, Smart phone, Kindle Reader, iPad, or Tablet. Biography of Nikola Tesla The extraordinary life of a modern Prometheus Nikola Tesla pursued his ideas for wireless lighting and worldwide wireless electric power distribution in his high-voltage, high-frequency power experiments. Tesla explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field in an induction motor by demonstrating how to make a copper egg stand on end, using a device that he constructed known as the Egg of Columbus and introduced his new steam powered oscillator AC generator. Inside you'll read about A promising intellect Health complications Inventive work A troubled mind Unusual experiences Mental breakdown Controversial viewpoints A forgotten mind From breakdown to brainstorm Overshadowed by rivals Death of a forgotten mind And much more! Based on Tesla's new ideas for electrical equipment, including a thermo-magnetic motor idea, Alfred S. Brown and Charles F. Peck formed the Tesla Electric Company. Nikola Tesla developed an induction motor that ran on alternating current (AC), a power system format that was rapidly expanding in Europe and the United States because of its advantages in long-distance, high-voltage transmission. Biography of Thomas Edison There are a lot more to the story than just the light bulb, and there is a lot more to the invention of the light bulb than just Thomas Edison. One thing is for sure that he is still remembered as one of the greatest inventors of all time, and perhaps the greatest that America has ever produced. In truth, Edison was a man who invented a lot of things while bringing about incredible advancements in many other things. With the stock ticker, the telegraph, the light bulb, and motion picture, he may not have invented them, but he improved on them beyond any recognition. They would not be the technologies they were today without Edison's great mind working on them. Inside you'll read about Born into a country of great change the telegraph and the start of his genius How Edison created the invention machine Edison and the phonograph It wasn't always about success for Edison The truth about the light bulb The rivalry between Tesla and the "war of the currents" Father of the motion pictures The man behind the inventions Edison's greatest quotes His death and the legacy he left behind Remember him for the right reasons And much more! Thomas Edison seems to be remembered these days either the man who invented the light bulb or the man who didn't. Without knowing any more about him, you are either giving him false praise for something he didn't do or not taking into account all the other work he did.
Download or read book Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla written by Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-11-17 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures of Tesla, Edison and important people and places in their lives. *Includes some of the inventors' most inspiring quotes and explanations of their inventive techniques. *Discusses the relationship and rivalry between Edison and Tesla *Includes a Bibliography for further reading. Thomas Edison holds a unique legacy in the United States, but there's no denying that his inventions have benefited the world as a whole. Known as "The Wizard of Menlo Park," every American knows that their nation's most prolific inventor harnessed the power of electricity to create the first light bulb. But that was just one of over 1,000 patents Edison would establish during his life, as he not only dreamed up new devices but also revolutionized the way materials were mass produced. His life's work heavily influenced everything from electric power, batteries and lighting to cement, telegraphy and mining. While Edison's inventions are important, what he represented was also critical to the nation as a whole. Edison represented the American Dream, specifically the notion that hard work can accomplish anything, and he always understood that himself, once exhorting the nation, "Be courageous! Whatever setbacks America has encountered, it has always emerged as a stronger and more prosperous nation." As one Edison biographer put it, "Thomas Edison was more responsible than any one else for creating the modern world...No one did more to shape the physical/cultural makeup of present day civilization..." If anyone could challenge that claim, it might be Nikola Tesla. Born a Serb in the Austrian Empire, Tesla came to the United States and worked in a laboratory for none other than the Wizard of Menlo Park, Thomas Edison. It was through his work on behalf of Edison that Tesla flourished and became a well-known figure in his own right. His work there helped him establish financial backing for his own projects, particularly the design of AC (alternating current) as a system for supplying electricity. This later put him at odds with Edison, who championed DC (direct current), but Tesla's model would come out on top as the 19th century came to a close. Having established AC as an electrical supply system, Tesla became a global celebrity, and his devices and inventions fascinated people. Tesla tinkered with everything from X-rays to wireless communications and even attempted a primitive form of the radio. While Tesla was not able to successfully execute the devices and concepts he foresaw, his forward thinking in fields like wireless communication certainly proved prescient, and his futuristic devices and his later reputation for eccentricity helped create the "mad scientist" image that still remains a pop culture fixture. Tesla seemed to have come to grips with this aspect of his legacy late in life, noting, "The scientific man does not aim at an immediate result. He does not expect that his advanced ideas will be readily taken up. His work is like that of the planter - for the future. His duty is to lay the foundation for those who are to come, and point the way." This book profiles the lives and legacies of the two famous scientists, while also examining their inventions and work. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Edison and Tesla like never before.
Download or read book Tesla written by W. Bernard Carlson and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2015-04-27 with total page 516 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The gold standard for Tesla biography.”—Science “Superb.”—Nature The definitive account of Tesla's life and work Nikola Tesla was a major contributor to the electrical revolution that transformed daily life at the turn of the twentieth century. His inventions, patents, and theoretical work formed the basis of modern AC electricity, and contributed to the development of radio and television. Like his competitor Thomas Edison, Tesla was one of America's first celebrity scientists, enjoying the company of New York high society and dazzling the likes of Mark Twain with his electrical demonstrations. An astute self-promoter and gifted showman, he cultivated a public image of the eccentric genius. Even at the end of his life when he was living in poverty, Tesla still attracted reporters to his annual birthday interview, regaling them with claims that he had invented a particle-beam weapon capable of bringing down enemy aircraft. Plenty of biographies glamorize Tesla and his eccentricities, but until now none has carefully examined what, how, and why he invented. In this groundbreaking book, W. Bernard Carlson demystifies the legendary inventor, placing him within the cultural and technological context of his time, and focusing on his inventions themselves as well as the creation and maintenance of his celebrity. Drawing on original documents from Tesla's private and public life, Carlson shows how he was an "idealist" inventor who sought the perfect experimental realization of a great idea or principle, and who skillfully sold his inventions to the public through mythmaking and illusion. This major biography sheds new light on Tesla's visionary approach to invention and the business strategies behind his most important technological breakthroughs.
Download or read book Innovation Capital written by Jeff Dyer and published by Harvard Business Press. This book was released on 2019-05-14 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Learn from the Best Great leaders of innovation know that creativity is not enough. They succeed not only on the basis of their ideas, but because they have the vision, reputation, and networks to win the backing needed to commercialize them. It turns out that this quality--called "innovation capital"--is measurably more important for innovation than just being creative. The authors have spent decades studying how people get great ideas (the subject of The Innovator's DNA) and how people test and develop those ideas (explored in The Innovator's Method). Now they share what they've learned from a multipronged research program designed to determine how people compete for, and obtain, resources to launch new ideas: How you can build a personal reputation for innovation What techniques you can use to amplify your innovation capital How you can garner attention for your ideas and projects and persuade audiences to support them What it means to provide visionary leadership and how you can achieve it Featuring interviews with the superstars of innovation--individuals like Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Elon Musk (Tesla), Marc Benioff (Salesforce), Indra Nooyi (PepsiCo), and Shantanu Narayen (Adobe)--this book will help you position yourself and your ideas to compete for attention and resources so that you can launch innovations with impact.
Download or read book Electrical Wizard written by Elizabeth Rusch and published by Candlewick Press. This book was released on 2013-09-10 with total page 41 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An introduction to the pioneering ideas of a leading contributor to modern electrical engineering includes coverage of such topics as his rivalry with Thomas Edison, his innovations in the field of alternating current and his history-changing role in the development of such inventions as remote controls, fluorescent lights and cell phones.
Download or read book The Electric War written by Mike Winchell and published by Henry Holt and Company (BYR). This book was released on 2019-01-22 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The spellbinding true account of the scientific competition to light the world with electricity. In the mid-to-late-nineteenth century, a burgeoning science called electricity promised to shine new light on a rousing nation. Inventive and ambitious minds were hard at work. Soon that spark was fanned, and a fiery war was under way to be the first to light—and run—the world with electricity. Thomas Alva Edison, the inventor of direct current (DC), engaged in a brutal battle with Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse, the inventors of alternating current (AC). There would be no ties in this race—only a winner and a loser. The prize: a nationwide monopoly in electric current. Brimming with action, suspense, and rich historical and biographical information about these brilliant inventors, here is the rousing account of one of the world’s defining scientific competitions. Christy Ottaviano Books
Download or read book The Medieval Crossbow written by ELLIS-GORMAN STUART and published by Pen & Sword Military. This book was released on 2022-05-30 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The crossbow is an iconic weapon of the Middle Ages and, alongside the longbow, one of the most effective ranged weapons of the pre-gunpowder era. Unfortunately, despite its general fame it has been decades since an in-depth history of the medieval crossbow has been published, which is why Stuart Ellis-Gorman's detailed, accessible, and highly illustrated study is so valuable. The Medieval Crossbow approaches the history of the crossbow from two directions. The first is a technical study of the design and construction of the medieval crossbow, the many different kinds of crossbows used during the Middle Ages, and finally a consideration of the relationship between crossbows and art. The second half of the book explores the history of the crossbow, from its origins in ancient China to its decline in sixteenth-century Europe. Along the way it explores the challenges in deciphering the crossbow's early medieval history as well as its prominence in warfare and sport shooting in the High and Later Middle Ages. This fascinating book brings together the work of a wide range of accomplished crossbow scholars and incorporates the author's own original research to create an account of the medieval crossbow that will appeal to anyone looking to gain an insight into one of the most important weapons of the Middle Ages.
Download or read book My Inventions written by Nikola Tesla and published by Courier Dover Publications. This book was released on 2016-05-18 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of science's great unsung heroes, Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) was a prophet of the electronic age. His research laid much of the groundwork for modern electrical and communication systems, and his impressive accomplishments include development of the alternating-current electrical system, radio, the Tesla coil transformer, wireless transmission, and fluorescent lighting. Yet his name and work are only dimly recognized today: Tesla's research was so groundbreaking that many of his contemporaries failed to understand it, and other scientists are unjustly credited for his innovations. The visionary scientist speaks for himself in this volume, originally published in 1919 as a six-part series in Electrical Experimenter magazine. Tesla recounts his boyhood in Croatia, his schooling and work in Europe, his collaboration with Thomas Edison, and his subsequent research. This edition includes the essay "The Problem of Increasing Human Energy: With Special Reference to the Harnessing of the Sun's Energy," which anticipates latter-day advances in environmental technology. Written with wit and �lan, this memoir offers fascinating insights into one of the great minds of modern science.
Download or read book The Last Days of Night written by Graham Moore and published by Random House. This book was released on 2016-08-16 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A world of invention and skulduggery, populated by the likes of Edison, Westinghouse, and Tesla.”—Erik Larson “A model of superior historical fiction . . . an exciting, sometimes astonishing story.”—The Washington Post From Graham Moore, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of The Imitation Game and New York Times bestselling author of The Sherlockian, comes a thrilling novel—based on actual events—about the nature of genius, the cost of ambition, and the battle to electrify America. New York, 1888. Gas lamps still flicker in the city streets, but the miracle of electric light is in its infancy. The person who controls the means to turn night into day will make history—and a vast fortune. A young untested lawyer named Paul Cravath, fresh out of Columbia Law School, takes a case that seems impossible to win. Paul’s client, George Westinghouse, has been sued by Thomas Edison over a billion-dollar question: Who invented the light bulb and holds the right to power the country? The case affords Paul entry to the heady world of high society—the glittering parties in Gramercy Park mansions, and the more insidious dealings done behind closed doors. The task facing him is beyond daunting. Edison is a wily, dangerous opponent with vast resources at his disposal—private spies, newspapers in his pocket, and the backing of J. P. Morgan himself. Yet this unknown lawyer shares with his famous adversary a compulsion to win at all costs. How will he do it? In obsessive pursuit of victory, Paul crosses paths with Nikola Tesla, an eccentric, brilliant inventor who may hold the key to defeating Edison, and with Agnes Huntington, a beautiful opera singer who proves to be a flawless performer on stage and off. As Paul takes greater and greater risks, he’ll find that everyone in his path is playing their own game, and no one is quite who they seem. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST AND THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER “A satisfying romp . . . Takes place against a backdrop rich with period detail . . . Works wonderfully as an entertainment . . . As it charges forward, the novel leaves no dot unconnected.”—Noah Hawley, The New York Times Book Review
Download or read book Tesla Inventor of the Modern written by Richard Munson and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2018-05-22 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "[A] penetrating biography…Munson makes vivid the genius’s eventful life." —Barbara Kiser, Nature Nikola Tesla invented radio, robots, and remote control. His electric induction motors run our appliances and factories. In the early 1900s, he designed plans for cell phones, the Internet, death-ray weapons, and interstellar communication. His ideas have lived on to shape the modern economy, yet he has been largely overlooked by history. In Tesla, Richard Munson presents a comprehensive portrait of this farsighted and underappreciated mastermind. Drawing on letters, technological notebooks, and other primary sources, Munson pieces together the magnificently bizarre personal life and mental habits of the enigmatic inventor whose most famous inventions were the product of a mind fueled by both the humanities and sciences—Tesla conceived the induction motor while walking through a park and reciting Goethe’s Faust. Clear, authoritative, and highly readable, Tesla takes into account all the phases of Tesla’s remarkable life and career.
Download or read book They Changed the World Bell Edison and Tesla written by Lewis Helfand and published by Campfire. This book was released on 2014-06-17 with total page 106 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Three lives, one epic story. Find out how Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison and Nicola Tesla changed the world we live in forever! Three men, three great minds and three completely different approaches to science. Find out how these men tamed the forces of science in order to share its power with the world. As their paths cross, a rivalry grows. The men who revolutionized the fields of light, sound and vision compete with each other to become the leading genius of the age.
Download or read book Edison written by Edmund Morris and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 801 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Pulitzer Prize-winning author Morris comes a revelatory new biography ofThomas Alva Edison, the most prolific genius in American history.
Download or read book Who Was Nikola Tesla written by Jim Gigliotti and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-12-04 with total page 113 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Get ready for the electrifying biography of Nikola Tesla--part creative genius, part mad scientist, and 100% innovator. When Nikola Tesla arrived in the United States in 1884, he didn't have much money, but he did have a letter of introduction to renowned inventor Thomas Edison. The working relationship between the two men was short lived, though, and the two scientist-inventors became harsh competitors. One of the most influential scientists of all time, Nikola Tesla is celebrated for his experiments in electricity, X-rays, remote controls, and wireless communications. His invention of the Tesla coil was instrumental in the development of radio technology.
