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.
**
From Booklist
Starred Review Nikola Tesla once noted that the men who worked for him sometimes “thought I was some kind of magician or hypnotizer.” Like Tesla’s assistants, biographer Carlson sees the magician and hypnotizer in the astonishing inventor. Readers, too, will perceive the magic-working wizard in the Serbian-born genius as he translates intensely conceived imaginative ideals into world-changing technologies—such as the alternating-current motor and the radio-controlled boat. And they will recognize something of the hypnotizer in the flamboyant showman who dazzles lecture-hall audiences and potential backers with electric flames passing through his body. Carlson even has something to teach readers familiar with Seifer’s dissection of Tesla’s tortured psyche in Wizard (1996) and O’Neill’s much earlier chronicle of Tesla’s childhood and early career in Prodigal Genius (1944). Carlson provides not only a more detailed explanation of Tesla’s science but also a more focused psychological account of Tesla’s inventive process than do his predecessors. Carlson also surpasses his predecessors in showing how Tesla promoted his inventions by creating luminous illusions of progress, prosperity, and peace, illusions so strong that they finally unhinge their creator. An exceptional fusion of technical analysis of revolutionary devices and imaginative sympathy for a lacerated ego. --Bryce Christensen
Review
"Carlson even has something to teach readers familiar with Seifer's dissection of Tesla's tortured psyche in Wizard (2001) and O'Neill's much earlier chronicle of Tesla's childhood and early career in Prodigal Genius (1944). Carlson provides not only a more detailed explanation of Tesla's science but also a more focused psychological account of Tesla's inventive process than do his predecessors. Carlson also surpasses his predecessors in showing how Tesla promoted his inventions by creating luminous illusions of progress, prosperity, and peace, illusions so strong that they finally unhinge their creator. An exceptional fusion of technical analysis of revolutionary devices and imaginative sympathy for a lacerated ego." ---Bryce Christensen, *Booklist*
"[Readers] will certainly see this volume as an indispensable guide to one of the most fascinating yet controversial and misunderstood innovators of the modern era." ---Graeme Gooday, *Metascience*
"Since the death of Nikola Tesla in 1943, his life has deserved a worthy biography. Bernard Carlson has delivered that in Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age , which portrays Tesla as intensely human. . . . Anyone, whether simply an interested reader or a professional historian, engineer, or physicist, will finish Tesla with a deepened understanding of his world, character, and accomplishments." ---Robert Rosenberg, *Physics Today*
"This major biography sheds new light on Tesla's visionary approach to invention and the business strategies behind his most important technological breakthroughs." ( World Book Industry )
"One of Booklist Online’s Top 10 Science & Health Books for 2013"
"A scholarly, critical, mostly illuminating study of the life and work of the great Serbian inventor." ( Kirkus Reviews )
"[T]his is an enjoyable biography of Tesla, concentrating in detail on his engineering achievements and business arrangements, even though it could have been firmer on the unscientific nature of some of Tesla's ideas." ---Brian Clegg, *Popular Science*
"One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2013"
"Carefully researched and thoughtfully written. . . . Clearly surpassing earlier accounts, [this] will be the gold standard for Tesla biography." ---Thomas J. Misa, *Science*
"Carlson deftly weaves the many threads of Tesla's story." ---Nicola Davis, *Times*
Description:
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. **
From Booklist
Starred Review Nikola Tesla once noted that the men who worked for him sometimes “thought I was some kind of magician or hypnotizer.” Like Tesla’s assistants, biographer Carlson sees the magician and hypnotizer in the astonishing inventor. Readers, too, will perceive the magic-working wizard in the Serbian-born genius as he translates intensely conceived imaginative ideals into world-changing technologies—such as the alternating-current motor and the radio-controlled boat. And they will recognize something of the hypnotizer in the flamboyant showman who dazzles lecture-hall audiences and potential backers with electric flames passing through his body. Carlson even has something to teach readers familiar with Seifer’s dissection of Tesla’s tortured psyche in Wizard (1996) and O’Neill’s much earlier chronicle of Tesla’s childhood and early career in Prodigal Genius (1944). Carlson provides not only a more detailed explanation of Tesla’s science but also a more focused psychological account of Tesla’s inventive process than do his predecessors. Carlson also surpasses his predecessors in showing how Tesla promoted his inventions by creating luminous illusions of progress, prosperity, and peace, illusions so strong that they finally unhinge their creator. An exceptional fusion of technical analysis of revolutionary devices and imaginative sympathy for a lacerated ego. --Bryce Christensen
Review
"Carlson even has something to teach readers familiar with Seifer's dissection of Tesla's tortured psyche in Wizard (2001) and O'Neill's much earlier chronicle of Tesla's childhood and early career in Prodigal Genius (1944). Carlson provides not only a more detailed explanation of Tesla's science but also a more focused psychological account of Tesla's inventive process than do his predecessors. Carlson also surpasses his predecessors in showing how Tesla promoted his inventions by creating luminous illusions of progress, prosperity, and peace, illusions so strong that they finally unhinge their creator. An exceptional fusion of technical analysis of revolutionary devices and imaginative sympathy for a lacerated ego." ---Bryce Christensen, *Booklist*
"[Readers] will certainly see this volume as an indispensable guide to one of the most fascinating yet controversial and misunderstood innovators of the modern era." ---Graeme Gooday, *Metascience*
"Since the death of Nikola Tesla in 1943, his life has deserved a worthy biography. Bernard Carlson has delivered that in Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age , which portrays Tesla as intensely human. . . . Anyone, whether simply an interested reader or a professional historian, engineer, or physicist, will finish Tesla with a deepened understanding of his world, character, and accomplishments." ---Robert Rosenberg, *Physics Today*
"This major biography sheds new light on Tesla's visionary approach to invention and the business strategies behind his most important technological breakthroughs." ( World Book Industry )
"One of Booklist Online’s Top 10 Science & Health Books for 2013"
"A scholarly, critical, mostly illuminating study of the life and work of the great Serbian inventor." ( Kirkus Reviews )
"[T]his is an enjoyable biography of Tesla, concentrating in detail on his engineering achievements and business arrangements, even though it could have been firmer on the unscientific nature of some of Tesla's ideas." ---Brian Clegg, *Popular Science*
"One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2013"
"Carefully researched and thoughtfully written. . . . Clearly surpassing earlier accounts, [this] will be the gold standard for Tesla biography." ---Thomas J. Misa, *Science*
"Carlson deftly weaves the many threads of Tesla's story." ---Nicola Davis, *Times*