In the midnight hour of July 10, 1856, during a thunderstorm in Smiljan, Croatia (then part of the Austrian Empire), a boy was born. The midwife called it an omen — “This child will be a child of darkness,” she said.
“No,” his mother replied. “He will be a child of light.”
They named him Nikola Tesla, and the prophecy would prove true.
A Mind Full of Sparks
As a child, Nikola saw visions — flashes of light that came with ideas, inventions, entire machines forming fully in his mind. He could sketch them without needing to build prototypes.
“The moment one of my inventions comes into my mind, I see it as if it were a drawing before me. I do not rush to work out the details — I merely imagine.”
His father was a priest, his mother an inventor of household tools. From her, he inherited his mechanical genius; from his father, his gift for language and memory.
The War of Currents Begins
Tesla studied engineering in Graz and Prague, but never formally graduated. He was too restless, too consumed by ideas. By his mid-twenties, he was working for Thomas Edison in Paris and later in New York.
But soon Tesla clashed with Edison’s approach. Edison championed direct current (DC), while Tesla believed alternating current (AC) was the future — capable of transmitting power across great distances.
“I do not care that they stole my idea. I care that they don’t have any of their own.”
Breaking away from Edison, Tesla partnered with industrialist George Westinghouse. Together, they built the first large-scale AC power system — and changed the world.
Lighting Up the World
In 1893, Tesla’s AC system lit up the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, dazzling millions and proving that AC was safe and practical.
Two years later, Tesla’s system was chosen to harness Niagara Falls, sending electricity to Buffalo, New York — a feat once thought impossible.
“The harness of Niagara will be the turning point in the history of electricity.”
The world had entered the electric age, and Tesla stood at its center.
Visions of the Future
Tesla’s genius didn’t stop with AC power. He envisioned wireless communication, radio waves, remote-controlled machines, even a global system of free energy.
In his Colorado Springs laboratory, he created artificial lightning that cracked through the night sky. In New York, he built the Wardenclyffe Tower, hoping to transmit power wirelessly across the globe.
“The present is theirs; the future, for which I have really worked, is mine.”
But investors lost faith, and the tower was eventually dismantled. Tesla’s dream of wireless power remained unfinished — but decades later, it would inspire technologies like Wi-Fi and wireless charging.
The Lonely Genius
As the years passed, Tesla withdrew from the public eye. He fed pigeons in New York’s Bryant Park, living in modest hotels, surviving on meager funds. He never married, dedicating himself entirely to invention.
“Be alone — that is the secret of invention; be alone, that is when ideas are born.”
He died on January 7, 1943, in Room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel. He was 86.
The Legacy of Tesla
Today, Nikola Tesla is remembered not just as an inventor, but as a visionary who saw the shape of the future before the world was ready for it.
“If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.”
From the light bulbs in our rooms to the wireless devices in our hands, traces of Tesla’s imagination are everywhere. He was, in every sense, the child of light his mother once foresaw.
“Of all things, I liked books best.”
“My brain is only a receiver. In the Universe there is a core from which we obtain knowledge, strength, and inspiration.”
“The desire that guides me in all I do is the desire to harness the forces of nature to the service of mankind.”
“I do not rush into actual work. When I get an idea, I start at once building it up in my imagination.”