TESLA'S
EXPERIMENTAL
STATION
Throughout his career, Nikola Tesla worked at many different laboratories, but none captured the world’s attention quite as much as his lab in Colorado Springs. It was there where he conducted his top secret experiments. After visiting Colorado Springs in 1899, Tesla returned to build his secret experiment lab. His lab was a special place to him for many reasons; it was a place where he could let his creativity run wild, dream up new inventions and then put them to the test with endless experimentations. Tesla was also a bit of a night owl. In his Colorado Springs lab, he could stay up as late as he wanted working on his ideas.
During one of his nighttime wireless communication experiments, Tesla heard several beeps that he could not explain. He began to think that they were signals coming from another planet. When he announced his discovery, reporters were quick to claim that Nikola Tesla received messages from Martians!
One of Tesla’s most important and famous inventions that came out of his lab was called the Tesla Coil. It was a device that allowed him to transmit energy wirelessly, which was unheard of at the time. The coil was
made up of magnifying transmitters that could make sparks more than 135 feet long (the size of a stack of twelve elephants!). Tesla decided to build one giant Tesla Coil in his lab and start giving public demonstrations to show off his new technology. He would invite people to his lab and then hold a light bulb near the coil. Without even touching the coil, the light bulb would begin to glow in his hand!
Tesla was a man of great ideas. He wanted to create wireless energy that could travel across the world and that would be free for everyone. He wanted people in New York to be able to communicate with people in London by using a small device that could connect the two cities. Today we have such a device, in our smartphones and computers. Tesla had predicted this future by 120 years! Is it any wonder he earned the nickname, “The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century”?
After moving his lab to Shoreham, New York, things started to
go downhill for the inventor. Unlike Edison, who was a clever businessman, Tesla often let others profit from his work rather than profiting from it himself. As his debts began to pile up, his New York lab was shut down. For the following years, Tesla continued to work but struggled financially. He patented the automotive speedometer (which we still use to measure speed in our cars today) and lived off the royalties, but it wasn’t enough. Even though Tesla was a brilliant scientist, he was not a good businessman and never succeeded in using his inventions to earn a living.
Tesla was a man ahead of his time. His vision for the future was unique and innovative — unlike anything the world had ever seen. His Tesla Coil is still used today in radios, televisions and other electrical equipment, and his AC motor is how we power homes and businesses around the world.